Yahoo Finance Linde (LIN) Q1 Earnings Beat Estimates on Higher Prices
Linde plc LIN reported adjusted earnings from continuing operations of $1.89 per share in first-quarter 2020, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.83. Moreover, the bottom line improved from the year-ago figure of $1.69 per share.
The company’s revenues of $6,739 million declined from the year-ago level of $6,944 million and missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $6,745 million.
The strong quarterly earnings of the leading producer and distributer of industrial gases were supported by improved prices across Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East & Africa.
Linde plc Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
Linde plc price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Linde plc Quote
Segmental Results
The company operates through four business segments — Americas, APAC (the Asia Pacific), EMEA (Europe, Middle East & Africa) and Engineering.
Sales at the Americas unit in the March-end quarter of 2020 were $2,677 million, down from $2,702 million in the year-ago quarter. However, the segment contributed $661 million to operating profit, mirroring an improvement from $584 million in first-quarter 2019. Higher prices and volume primarily contributed to the outperformance.
From the APAC unit, the company generated sales of $1,336 million, down from the year-ago quarter’s $1,427 million. The sales decline resulted from lower volume, following shutdown in customers’ activities owing to the coronavirus pandemic. However, the segment contributed $281 million to operating profit in first-quarter 2020, up from $273 million in the prior-year quarter owing to higher prices.
Sales from the EMEA unit declined to $1,633 million from $1,682 million in the March-end quarter of 2019. However, the company generated operating profit of $355 million from the segment, higher than $347 million in the prior-year quarter. The results were aided by an uptick in prices, partially offset by lower volume owing to a slowdown in manufacturing activities.
The company’s sales from the Engineering business were $608 million, down from $636 million in the prior-year quarter. The segment’s profit also increased to $91 million from $78 million in first-quarter 2019, thanks to increased productivity and timely project executions.
Balance Sheet
As of Mar 31, 2020, Linde had cash and cash equivalents of $4,014 million. Long-term debt totaled $10,021 million. Its debt-to-capitalization ratio was 0.24.
Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider
Linde currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the basic materials space are Kinross Gold Corporation KGC, Franco-Nevada Corporation FNV and Pretium Resources, Inc. PVG, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Kinross Gold is likely to see earnings growth of 52.9% in 2020.
Franco-Nevada is expected to witness earnings growth of 22% in 2020.
Pretium Resources is likely to see earnings growth of 16.4% in 2020.
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Linde plc (LIN) : Free Stock Analysis Report
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