APD vs CRH vs LIN Stock Comparison

Air Products & Chemicals, Crh Public and Linde Prices as of Oct 26, 2026 Peers: Industry group
CRH Crh Public Ltd Co
$85.43 +0.5% 1M -28.9% 1Y
Market cap
$57.33B
P/E
14.9x
Revenue (TTM)
$38.63B
Div. yield
–
Cement Basic Materials
3 wins
LIN Linde Plc
$507.56 +8.0% 1M +13.8% 1Y
Market cap
$234.53B
P/E
32.4x
Revenue (TTM)
$35.45B
Div. yield
0.01%
Industrial Gases Basic Materials
7 wins

Head to Head

12 decided of 12

Linde leads on 7 of the 12 questions below (Linde 7, Crh Public 3, Air Products & Chemicals 2). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionAPDCRHLINLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $68.24B $57.33B $234.53B LIN
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only -1,443x 14.9x 32.4x CRH
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 21.8x 14.9x 30.3x CRH
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +4.5% +6.3% +6.6% LIN
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months -0.4% 9.9% 20.4% LIN
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 0.0% 9.7% 10.8% LIN
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA 17.4x 1.9x 1.8x LIN
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.02% 0.00% 0.01% APD
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months +19.9% -28.9% +13.8% APD
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years +0.7%/yr +12.2%/yr +9.7%/yr CRH
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 26.3% 32.5% 19.2% LIN
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 39/100 58/100 59/100 LIN

Percentile Scorecard

APDCRHLIN

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

AxisAPDCRHLIN
Valuation 19 #76 of 94 67 #4 of 10 20 #75 of 94
Growth 43 #53 of 92 – 66 #32 of 92
Profitability 50 #45 of 89 29 #6 of 8 94 #6 of 89
Financial Health 20 #78 of 97 50 #5 of 9 52 #47 of 97
Shareholder Returns 61 #28 of 70 86 #2 of 8 64 #26 of 70
Overall 39 58 59
  • APD ranked among 99 companies in Chemicals
  • CRH ranked among 10 companies in Construction Materials
  • LIN ranked among 99 companies in Chemicals

Price Performance

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

Returns

PeriodAPDCRHLINSPY
1 month +8.5%+0.5%+8.0% -0.8%
3 months +4.5%-16.9%+0.1% +3.5%
6 months +1.1%-26.8%-0.6% +7.0%
Year to date +23.7%-31.5%+19.0% +12.2%
1 year +19.9%-28.9%+13.8% +13.0%
3 years +10.7%+63.2%+37.0% +86.3%
3 years, per year +3.4%+17.7%+11.1% +23.1%
5 years +3.7%+77.9%+59.1% +68.6%
5 years, per year +0.7%+12.2%+9.7% +11.0%
10 years +129.9%+158.1%+328.1% +258.0%
10 years, per year +8.7%+9.9%+15.7% +13.6%

Risk

MeasureAPDCRHLINSPY
Volatility, 1Y 26.3%32.5%19.2% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 24.5%32.8%19.6% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 0.071.300.05 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y 0.76-0.890.72 1.02
Max drawdown, 5Y -33.8%-42.1%-23.7% -25.4%
From 52-week high -2.7%-35.0%-7.1% -1.8%
52-week high $314.19$131.38$546.64 $779.14
52-week low $230.76$79.20$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.

MultipleAPDCRHLIN
P/E now vs peer median -1,440xmedian 21.6x 14.9xmedian 19.6x 32.4xmedian 21.6x
P/S now vs peer median 5.4xmedian 1.4x 1.5xmedian 1.8x 6.6xmedian 1.4x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 88.9xmedian 12.4x 9.2xmedian 9.3x 19.5xmedian 12.4x
P/FCF now vs peer median -225.8xmedian 15.8x 20.6xmedian 31.4x 47.0xmedian 15.8x
P/B now vs peer median 4.1xmedian 1.6x 2.3xmedian 2.3x 5.8xmedian 1.6x
PEG now vs peer median 54.45median 1.66 —median 2.78 3.06median 1.66

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 monthsAPDCRHLIN
Revenue $12.60B $38.63B $35.45B
Gross profit $4.04B $14.00B $17.14B
Operating income -$593.10M $5.53B $9.38B
Net income -$19.70M $3.89B $7.26B
Free cash flow -$301.40M $2.77B $4.98B
R&D $90.80M – $146.00M
EPS (diluted) $-0.21 $5.74 $15.59
Cash & equivalents $980.50M $3.03B $4.90B
Total debt $17.48B $17.93B $28.01B
Shares (diluted) 222.80M 668.80M 464.52M
Enterprise value $63.42B $42.77B $216.11B

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
MetricAPDCRHLIN
P/E -1,440x 14.9x 32.4x
P/FCF -225.8x 20.6x 47.0x
P/Operating cash flow 14.9x 10.5x 22.3x
P/S 5.4x 1.5x 6.6x
P/B 4.1x 2.3x 5.8x
P/Tangible book 4.2x 2.5x 8.1x
EV/EBITDA 88.9x 9.2x 19.5x
EV/EBIT -142.6x 13.0x 27.4x
EV/Revenue 6.7x 1.9x 7.3x
EV/FCF -280.6x 26.0x 51.7x
EV/Operating cash flow 18.5x 13.2x 24.5x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 54.45 – 3.06

Growth

14 metrics
MetricAPDCRHLIN
Revenue growth (1Y) 4.5% 6.3% 6.6%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) -1.0% – 2.3%
Gross profit growth (1Y) 5.1% 7.0% 6.4%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) 2.7% – 5.4%
Operating income growth (1Y) -138.7% 10.1% 5.4%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) -31.0% – 9.0%
Net income growth (1Y) -101.2% 16.7% 8.1%
Net income CAGR (3Y) -26.2% – 8.2%
EPS growth (1Y) -103.1% 17.7% 10.0%
EPS CAGR (3Y) -26.4% – 10.6%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 54.8% 9.8% 5.8%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 13.1% – 6.1%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) 93.5% 26.5% -1.9%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) 27.5% – -2.7%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricAPDCRHLIN
Gross margin 32.1% 36.2% 48.3%
EBITDA margin 7.5% 20.2% 37.2%
Operating margin -4.7% 14.3% 26.5%
Pretax margin -0.7% 13.3% 26.4%
Net margin -0.4% 9.9% 20.4%
FCF margin -2.4% 7.2% 14.0%
Operating cash flow margin 36.3% 14.0% 29.6%
Return on equity 0.0% 15.8% 18.3%
Return on assets 0.0% 6.7% 8.4%
Return on invested capital 0.0% 9.7% 10.8%
Return on capital employed -1.6% 11.4% 13.2%
Asset turnover 0.3x 0.7x 0.4x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) -232.0x 1.4x 1.4x
Stock comp / revenue 0.4% 0.4% 0.4%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricAPDCRHLIN
Debt / assets 43.2% 30.6% 31.7%
Debt / equity 1.1x 0.7x 0.7x
Net debt / EBITDA 17.4x 1.9x 1.8x
Debt / FCF -58.0x 6.5x 5.6x
Liabilities / assets 59.0% 57.1% 54.0%
Equity / assets 41.0% 42.9% 46.0%
Interest coverage -2.7x 6.5x 37.4x
Current ratio 1.1x 1.6x 0.9x
Quick ratio 0.6x 1.0x 0.7x
Cash ratio 0.2x 0.3x 0.3x
Altman Z-score 2.55 2.73 3.96

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricAPDCRHLIN
Dividend yield 2.4% 1.8% 1.2%
Net buyback yield – 2.0% 1.7%
Shareholder yield 2.4% 3.8% 3.0%
Payout ratio (earnings) -8,114% – 39.7%
Payout ratio (FCF) -530.3% – 57.8%
Dividend growth (1Y) 1.2% – 5.3%
Dividend CAGR (3Y) 2.9% – 6.1%

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.

ConsensusAPDCRHLIN
Forward P/E 21.8xFY2026 14.9xFY2026 30.3xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $14.01FY2026 $5.74FY2026 $16.73FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +16.5%FY2026 +3.1%FY2026 +1.7%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +5.2% +13.9% +14.2%
Revenue, next fiscal year $12.03BFY2026 $41.93BFY2026 $38.84BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY -0.1%FY2026 +12.0%FY2026 +14.3%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +8.5% -3.2% -4.2%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersAPDCRHLIN
Held by institutions 91.2% 84.4% 85.2%
Institutions holding 1,772 1,029 2,321
Change in shares held, QoQ +2.0% +1.7% +4.2%
Institutions buying 745 554 1,213
Institutions selling 722 355 764
Buyers to sellers 1.03 1.56 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.

APDCRHLIN
APD 1.00 0.01 0.52
CRH 0.01 1.00 0.15
LIN 0.52 0.15 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, APD, CRH and LIN?

Linde (LIN) is the largest by market capitalisation: Air Products & Chemicals (APD) $68.24B, Crh Public (CRH) $57.33B, Linde (LIN) $234.53B.

Which stock is cheaper, APD, CRH and LIN?

Crh Public (CRH) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Air Products & Chemicals (APD) -1,443x, Crh Public (CRH) 14.9x, Linde (LIN) 32.4x). On next year's consensus earnings, Crh Public (CRH) is cheapest (Air Products & Chemicals (APD) 21.8x, Crh Public (CRH) 14.9x, Linde (LIN) 30.3x). 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%, Crh Public (CRH) +6.3%, Linde (LIN) +6.6%.

Which company is more profitable?

Linde (LIN) has the highest net margin (Air Products & Chemicals (APD) -0.4%, Crh Public (CRH) 9.9%, Linde (LIN) 20.4%). On return on invested capital, Linde (LIN) leads (Air Products & Chemicals (APD) 0.0%, Crh Public (CRH) 9.7%, Linde (LIN) 10.8%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Air Products & Chemicals (APD) returned the most: Air Products & Chemicals (APD) +19.9%, Crh Public (CRH) -28.9%, Linde (LIN) +13.8%. Over five years, Crh Public (CRH) compounded fastest (Air Products & Chemicals (APD) +0.7%/yr, Crh Public (CRH) +12.2%/yr, Linde (LIN) +9.7%/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%, Crh Public (CRH) 0.00%, Linde (LIN) 0.01%. Crh Public (CRH) pays no regular dividend.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Linde (LIN) has been the steadiest (Air Products & Chemicals (APD) 26.3%, Crh Public (CRH) 32.5%, Linde (LIN) 19.2%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, APD, CRH 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 7. 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.