A Member of Pat McKeough’s Inner Circle recently asked for his advice on a global leader in supplying industrial gases across the healthcare, electronics, clean energy, and manufacturing sectors.
Pat likes the firm’s growth prospects even in times of economic uncertainty—and even better when the economy expands. Meanwhile, the company has a 32-year dividend-increase streak.
Linde PLC (Symbol LIN on Nasdaq; www.linde.com) is the largest industrial gas company in the world.
Linde was created by the merger of Praxair Inc. and Linde AG in 2018. Formed under the laws of Ireland, it has principal offices in the U.K. and the U.S.
The company’s primary products are atmospheric and process gases. Atmospheric gases include oxygen, nitrogen, argon, and rare gases. Process gases include carbon dioxide, helium, hydrogen, electronic gases, specialty gases and acetylene.
Linde also designs, engineers, and builds equipment that produces industrial gases. The company offers its customers a wide range of gas production and processing services. They include olefin plants, natural gas plants, air separation plants, hydrogen and synthesis gas plants and other types of plants.
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On August 27, 2024, Linde signed a long-term agreement with chemical company Dow Inc. to supply clean hydrogen at Dow’s Fort Saskatchewan Path2Zero Project. Linde will invest more than $2 billion to build, own and operate a clean hydrogen and atmospheric gases facility in Alberta, Canada.
Expected to reach completion in 2028, the new complex will be the largest facility of its sort in Canada, and one of the largest globally. It will be Linde’s largest single investment in clean hydrogen.
Linde plc: Client diversification lets this gas giant report steady results
In the three months ended March 31, 2025, Linde’s revenue rose slightly, to $8.11 billion from $8.10 billion a year earlier. Sales increased due to 2% higher prices, partly offset by 1% lower volumes largely driven by the manufacturing and metals & mining end markets.
Revenue at the Americas segment rose 3.0%, to $3.67 billion from $3.56 billion. The increase came from 3% higher pricing and 1% higher volumes, primarily in the electronics, chemicals & energy end market.
Revenue at the EMEA segment, however, fell 2.9%, to $2.03 billion from $2.09 billion. The decline was due to 2% higher pricing more than offset by 3% lower volumes, primarily in the metals &mining and chemicals & energy end markets. Similarly, sales at the Asia Pacific segment decreased 3.3%, to $1.54 billion from $1.59 billion. Stable pricing was offset by 1% lower volumes, primarily in the metals & mining and manufacturing end markets
Meanwhile, revenue at the Engineering segment was up 4.8%, to $565 million from $539 million.
Excluding one-time items, Linde earned $1.88 billion, or $3.95 a share, in the latest quarter. That was up 3.2% from $1.82 billion, or $3.75 a share.
The company raised its quarterly dividend by 7.9% with the March 2025 payment, to $1.50 a share from $1.39. This marked the 32nd consecutive year of dividend increases. The stock currently yields 1.3%.
Linde’s outlook is positive, in part because it serves a diverse group of industries. These include healthcare, chemicals and energy, manufacturing, metals and mining, food and beverage, and electronics. The client mix helps the company report stable financial results through various business cycles.
Meanwhile, the stock trades at a somewhat high 28.7 times the forecast 2025 earnings of $16.42 a share. That adds risk.
Recommendation in Pat’s Inner Circle: Linde plc is okay to hold.
