A Member of Pat McKeough’s Inner Circle recently asked for his advice on the world’s leading industrial gas and engineering enterprise which supplies atmospheric and process gases to mission-critical end markets.
All in all, Pat likes the economic moat built on irreplaceable infrastructure, high customer switching costs, and inflation-indexed take-or-pay contracts that deliver predictable profits across all economic conditions.
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.
Linde organizes its operations geographically, with 90% of 2025 sales generated from three geographic segments:
The Americas segment, which includes the U.S., Brazil, Mexico and Canada, made up 44.7% of sales.
The Europe, Middle East and Africa, or EMEA, segment, which includes Germany, the U.K. and Eastern Europe, accounted for 25.1% of sales.
Note—the Asia Pacific, or APAC, segment, which includes China, Australia, South Korea and India, made up 19.6% of sales.
Outside of the regional groups, a further 6.6% of sales came from the Engineering segment and the remaining 4.0% came from Linde’s other operations. Both cut across regional operations.
Linde also plans to invest more than $2 billion to build, own, and operate a world-scale integrated clean hydrogen and atmospheric operational facility in Alberta, Canada. This complex will support Dow’s “Path2Zero” project, creating the world’s first net-zero combined ethylene cracker and derivatives site.
Linde has also now secured several new high-purity gas supply contracts with major semiconductor manufacturers in Asia and North America. These long-term agreements include the installation of on-site gas generators and specialized delivery systems essential for advanced chip fabrication.
Separately, the company is set to supply materials used for rocket propellants and should continue to benefit from major investments in the space industry, based in Florida and Texas.
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Linde’s profits remains strong to fund both growth and shareholder distributions
Meantime, in the three months ended June 30, 2026, Linde plc’s revenue rose 9.4%, to $9.29 billion from $8.49 billion a year earlier. Revenue rose due to higher pricing, volume growth, favorable currency movements, and acquisitions. Excluding currency effects and acquisitions, underlying sales rose by 4% thanks to higher prices (up 2%) and volumes (up 2%), primarily in the electronics, manufacturing, and chemicals & energy end markets.
Excluding one-time items, earnings rose 8.0%, to $2.09 billion from $1.93 billion. Earnings rose due to higher price and productivity initiatives, which were partially offset by cost inflation. Due to fewer shares outstanding, per share earnings improved 10.0%, to $4.50 from $4.09.
Linde’s long-term 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 all business cycles.
The company increased its quarterly dividend by 6.7% with the March 2026 payment, to $1.60 a share from $1.50. The new annual rate of $6.40 yields 1.4%. Linde has increased its annual dividend for 33 consecutive years.
The stock trades at a somewhat high 26.3 times the company’s forecast 2026 earnings of $17.88 a share.
Recommendation in Pat’s Inner Circle: Linde plc is a buy.
