APD vs ALTO vs LIN Stock Comparison

Air Products & Chemicals, Alto Ingredients and Linde Prices as of Oct 29, 2026 Peers: Industry group
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ALTO Alto Ingredients, Inc.
$3.65 +0.6% 1M +257.8% 1Y
Market cap
$264.18M
P/E
5.2x
Revenue (TTM)
$943.33M
Div. yield
–
Specialty Chemicals Basic Materials
5 wins
LIN Linde Plc
$503.15 +6.3% 1M +16.5% 1Y
Market cap
$237.24B
P/E
33.9x
Revenue (TTM)
$36.24B
Div. yield
0.01%
Industrial Gases Basic Materials
6 wins

Head to Head

12 decided of 12

Linde leads on 6 of the 12 questions below (Linde 6, Alto Ingredients 5, Air Products & Chemicals 1). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionAPDALTOLINLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $69.88B $264.18M $237.24B LIN
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only -1,477x 5.2x 33.9x ALTO
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 22.2x 9.9x 30.1x ALTO
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +4.5% +1.1% +8.2% LIN
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months -0.4% 5.4% 19.3% LIN
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 0.0% — 10.3% LIN
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA 17.4x 0.6x 1.8x ALTO
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.02% 0.00% 0.01% APD
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months +25.5% +257.8% +16.5% ALTO
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years +0.8%/yr -7.3%/yr +9.5%/yr LIN
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 26.2% 86.3% 19.0% LIN
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 39/100 84/100 57/100 ALTO

Percentile Scorecard

APDALTOLIN

Each axis is the mean percentile of its metrics against the company's industry group. 100 is the best in the group, 50 the middle.

Scores by Axis

AxisAPDALTOLIN
Valuation 19 #76 of 94 100 #1 of 94 20 #75 of 94
Growth 42 #54 of 92 97 #4 of 92 55 #42 of 92
Profitability 49 #44 of 86 65 #31 of 86 94 #6 of 86
Financial Health 20 #75 of 93 76 #23 of 93 49 #48 of 93
Shareholder Returns 64 #26 of 71 – 67 #24 of 71
Overall 39 84 57
  • APD ranked among 99 companies in Chemicals
  • ALTO ranked among 99 companies in Chemicals
  • LIN ranked among 99 companies in Chemicals

Price Performance

Price return, split-adjusted, before dividends. Click a name to hide or show it.

Returns

PeriodAPDALTOLINSPY
1 month +11.6%+0.6%+6.3% +0.7%
3 months +3.9%-21.0%-1.1% +3.7%
6 months +3.8%-33.9%+0.4% +7.1%
Year to date +26.1%+26.7%+18.0% +12.8%
1 year +25.5%+257.8%+16.5% +11.9%
3 years +11.0%-11.2%+32.8% +85.2%
3 years, per year +3.5%-3.9%+9.9% +22.8%
5 years +3.9%-31.4%+57.6% +67.6%
5 years, per year +0.8%-7.3%+9.5% +10.9%
10 years +132.9%-51.3%+328.4% +262.0%
10 years, per year +8.8%-6.9%+15.7% +13.7%

Risk

MeasureAPDALTOLINSPY
Volatility, 1Y 26.2%86.3%19.0% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 24.4%67.8%19.3% 12.6%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 0.070.310.05 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y 0.972.990.87 0.94
Max drawdown, 5Y -33.8%-89.1%-23.7% -25.4%
From 52-week high -0.8%-39.1%-8.0% -1.2%
52-week high $314.19$5.99$546.64 $779.14
52-week low $230.76$1.01$389.38 $631.97

Valuation History

Weekly multiples on trailing twelve-month fundamentals. Negative or extreme readings (a loss year, a collapsed denominator) are left out so the chart stays readable.

MultipleAPDALTOLIN
P/E now vs peer median -1,468xmedian 21.0x 5.4xmedian 21.0x 33.1xmedian 21.0x
P/S now vs peer median 5.5xmedian 1.4x 0.3xmedian 1.4x 6.4xmedian 1.4x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 90.3xmedian 12.9x 5.2xmedian 12.9x 19.5xmedian 12.9x
P/FCF now vs peer median -230.2xmedian 15.5x 5.7xmedian 15.5x 45.5xmedian 15.5x
P/B now vs peer median 4.2xmedian 1.7x 1.1xmedian 1.7x 5.6xmedian 1.7x
PEG now vs peer median 55.50median 1.68 0.14median 1.68 4.39median 1.68

Financial History

Reported figures by fiscal period, placed on the calendar year (or quarter) each period ended in, so companies with different fiscal years line up.

Trailing twelve monthsAPDALTOLIN
Revenue $12.60B $943.33M $36.24B
Gross profit $4.04B $64.51M $17.35B
Operating income -$593.10M $35.61M $9.16B
Net income -$19.70M $51.99M $7.03B
Free cash flow -$301.40M $49.94M $5.08B
R&D $90.80M – $147.00M
EPS (diluted) $-0.21 $0.66 $15.15
Cash & equivalents $980.50M $23.96M $3.95B
Total debt $17.48B $60.47M $26.70B
Shares (diluted) 222.80M 77.07M 462.51M
Enterprise value $65.07B $163.98M $219.38B

All Metrics

58 metrics · best in bold

Bold marks the best reading: the lowest positive value for multiples, leverage and payout, the highest for everything else. The bar under each value is its percentile against that company's own peers. Hover a value for its rank and the peer median.

Valuation

12 metrics
MetricAPDALTOLIN
P/E -1,468x 5.4x 33.1x
P/FCF -230.2x 5.7x 45.5x
P/Operating cash flow 15.2x 4.4x 21.6x
P/S 5.5x 0.3x 6.4x
P/B 4.2x 1.1x 5.6x
P/Tangible book 4.3x 1.1x 7.8x
EV/EBITDA 90.3x 5.2x 19.5x
EV/EBIT -144.8x 9.0x 27.7x
EV/Revenue 6.8x 0.3x 7.0x
EV/FCF -285.0x 6.4x 49.9x
EV/Operating cash flow 18.8x 4.9x 23.7x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 55.50 0.14 4.39

Growth

14 metrics
MetricAPDALTOLIN
Revenue growth (1Y) 4.5% 1.1% 8.2%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) -1.0% -10.1% 3.7%
Gross profit growth (1Y) 5.1% 7,720% 6.1%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) 2.7% 63.6% 5.0%
Operating income growth (1Y) -138.7% 162.4% -0.2%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) -31.0% 37.3% 6.0%
Net income growth (1Y) -101.2% 177.8% -0.8%
Net income CAGR (3Y) -26.2% 40.6% 5.1%
EPS growth (1Y) -103.1% 172.1% 0.7%
EPS CAGR (3Y) -26.4% 39.5% 7.5%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 54.8% 731.1% 5.7%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 13.1% 63.4% 7.3%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) 93.5% 481.7% 0.1%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) 27.5% 38.9% -0.1%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricAPDALTOLIN
Gross margin 32.1% 6.8% 47.9%
EBITDA margin 7.5% 6.6% 35.8%
Operating margin -4.7% 3.8% 25.3%
Pretax margin -0.7% 5.4% 25.2%
Net margin -0.4% 5.4% 19.3%
FCF margin -2.4% 5.3% 14.0%
Operating cash flow margin 36.3% 6.9% 29.6%
Return on equity 0.0% 20.2% 17.5%
Return on assets 0.0% 13.1% 8.1%
Return on invested capital 0.0% – 10.3%
Return on capital employed -1.6% 10.4% 12.6%
Asset turnover 0.3x 2.4x 0.4x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) -232.0x 1.3x 1.5x
Stock comp / revenue 0.4% 0.3% 0.4%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricAPDALTOLIN
Debt / assets 43.2% 15.2% 30.3%
Debt / equity 1.1x 0.2x 0.7x
Net debt / EBITDA 17.4x 0.6x 1.8x
Debt / FCF -58.0x 1.2x 5.3x
Liabilities / assets 59.0% 34.6% 53.5%
Equity / assets 41.0% 65.4% 46.5%
Interest coverage -2.7x 3.8x 35.5x
Current ratio 1.1x 3.2x 0.9x
Quick ratio 0.6x 1.8x 0.6x
Cash ratio 0.2x 0.5x 0.3x
Altman Z-score 2.58 1.43 3.98

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricAPDALTOLIN
Dividend yield 2.3% – 1.3%
Net buyback yield – – 1.7%
Shareholder yield 2.3% – 3.0%
Payout ratio (earnings) -8,114% – 41.5%
Payout ratio (FCF) -530.3% – 57.3%
Dividend growth (1Y) 1.2% – 5.1%
Dividend CAGR (3Y) 2.9% – 5.9%

Analyst Estimates

Solid lines are reported fiscal-year results; dashed lines are the consensus for the years ahead. Hover a year for the analysts' high and low, and how each result compared with its estimate.

ConsensusAPDALTOLIN
Forward P/E 22.2xFY2026 9.9xFY2026 30.1xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $14.01FY2026 $0.37FY2026 $16.73FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +16.5%FY2026 +131.3%FY2026 +1.7%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +5.2% -16.2% +14.2%
Revenue, next fiscal year $12.03BFY2026 $1.00BFY2026 $38.84BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY -0.1%FY2026 +9.1%FY2026 +14.3%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +8.5% +1.1% -4.2%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersAPDALTOLIN
Held by institutions 91.2% 46.3% 85.2%
Institutions holding 1,773 134 2,323
Change in shares held, QoQ +2.0% +14.2% +4.2%
Institutions buying 745 97 1,214
Institutions selling 723 25 765
Buyers to sellers 1.03 3.88 1.59

Return Correlation

Daily returns, last 12 months

1.00 means two stocks move in lockstep, 0 that they move independently. Pairs below about 0.5 diversify each other.

APDALTOLIN
APD 1.00 0.16 0.50
ALTO 0.16 1.00 -0.08
LIN 0.50 -0.08 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, APD, ALTO and LIN?

Linde (LIN) is the largest by market capitalisation: Air Products & Chemicals (APD) $69.88B, Alto Ingredients (ALTO) $264.18M, Linde (LIN) $237.24B.

Which stock is cheaper, APD, ALTO and LIN?

Alto Ingredients (ALTO) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Air Products & Chemicals (APD) -1,477x, Alto Ingredients (ALTO) 5.2x, Linde (LIN) 33.9x). On next year's consensus earnings, Alto Ingredients (ALTO) is cheapest (Air Products & Chemicals (APD) 22.2x, Alto Ingredients (ALTO) 9.9x, Linde (LIN) 30.1x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Linde (LIN) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Air Products & Chemicals (APD) +4.5%, Alto Ingredients (ALTO) +1.1%, Linde (LIN) +8.2%.

Which company is more profitable?

Linde (LIN) has the highest net margin (Air Products & Chemicals (APD) -0.4%, Alto Ingredients (ALTO) 5.4%, Linde (LIN) 19.3%). On return on invested capital, Linde (LIN) leads (Air Products & Chemicals (APD) 0.0%, Linde (LIN) 10.3%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Alto Ingredients (ALTO) returned the most: Air Products & Chemicals (APD) +25.5%, Alto Ingredients (ALTO) +257.8%, Linde (LIN) +16.5%. Over five years, Linde (LIN) compounded fastest (Air Products & Chemicals (APD) +0.8%/yr, Alto Ingredients (ALTO) -7.3%/yr, Linde (LIN) +9.5%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

Air Products & Chemicals (APD) has the highest dividend yield: Air Products & Chemicals (APD) 0.02%, Alto Ingredients (ALTO) 0.00%, Linde (LIN) 0.01%. Alto Ingredients (ALTO) pays no regular dividend.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Linde (LIN) has been the steadiest (Air Products & Chemicals (APD) 26.2%, Alto Ingredients (ALTO) 86.3%, Linde (LIN) 19.0%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, APD, ALTO and LIN?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Linde (LIN) leads on 6. Business Quant does not give investment advice; use the comparison as a starting point for your own research.

Data from SEC filings, exchange prices and consensus estimates, via Business Quant. Percentile scores compare each company with its own peer group, so two companies' scores are each relative to different peers unless you rank against the whole market. Price returns exclude dividends. Nothing on this page is investment advice.