APD vs LIN vs NUE Stock Comparison

Air Products & Chemicals, Linde and Nucor Prices as of Oct 23, 2026 Peers: Industry group
LIN Linde Plc
$508.83 +8.3% 1M +13.1% 1Y
Market cap
$235.50B
P/E
32.5x
Revenue (TTM)
$35.45B
Div. yield
0.01%
Industrial Gases Basic Materials
4 wins
NUE Nucor Corp
$258.10 +4.4% 1M +86.4% 1Y
Market cap
$58.20B
P/E
20.2x
Revenue (TTM)
$36.10B
Div. yield
0.01%
Steel Basic Materials
7 wins

Head to Head

12 decided of 12

Nucor leads on 7 of the 12 questions below (Nucor 7, Linde 4, Air Products & Chemicals 1). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionAPDLINNUELeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $68.38B $235.50B $58.20B LIN
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only -1,446x 32.5x 20.2x NUE
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 21.9x 30.4x 12.9x NUE
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +4.5% +6.6% +17.2% NUE
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months -0.4% 20.4% 8.0% LIN
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 0.0% 10.8% 11.0% NUE
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA 17.4x 1.8x 0.8x NUE
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.02% 0.01% 0.01% APD
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months +20.5% +13.1% +86.4% NUE
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years +1.1%/yr +10.1%/yr +20.3%/yr NUE
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 26.3% 19.2% 31.8% LIN
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 38/100 59/100 55/100 LIN

Percentile Scorecard

APDLINNUE

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

AxisAPDLINNUE
Valuation 18 #77 of 94 20 #75 of 94 74 #43 of 162
Growth 43 #53 of 92 66 #32 of 92 51 #73 of 147
Profitability 50 #45 of 89 94 #6 of 89 65 #43 of 122
Financial Health 20 #78 of 97 52 #47 of 97 40 #100 of 166
Shareholder Returns 59 #29 of 70 64 #26 of 70 47 #57 of 107
Overall 38 59 55
  • APD ranked among 99 companies in Chemicals
  • LIN ranked among 99 companies in Chemicals
  • NUE ranked among 176 companies in Metals and Mining

Price Performance

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

Returns

PeriodAPDLINNUESPY
1 month +6.9%+8.3%+4.4% -1.0%
3 months +3.0%-0.7%+4.2% +2.9%
6 months +1.8%-0.3%+20.4% +6.4%
Year to date +24.3%+19.3%+58.2% +11.4%
1 year +20.5%+13.1%+86.4% +13.1%
3 years +10.8%+38.5%+75.4% +79.4%
3 years, per year +3.5%+11.5%+20.6% +21.5%
5 years +5.4%+62.0%+152.2% +67.7%
5 years, per year +1.1%+10.1%+20.3% +10.9%
10 years +128.4%+324.4%+439.2% +255.2%
10 years, per year +8.6%+15.6%+18.4% +13.5%

Risk

MeasureAPDLINNUESPY
Volatility, 1Y 26.3%19.2%31.8% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 24.5%19.5%32.0% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 0.070.050.90 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y 0.780.682.72 1.03
Max drawdown, 5Y -33.8%-23.7%-48.6% -25.4%
From 52-week high -2.3%-6.9%-6.0% -2.5%
52-week high $314.19$546.64$274.65 $779.14
52-week low $230.76$389.38$138.45 $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.

MultipleAPDLINNUE
P/E now vs peer median -1,446xmedian 21.5x 32.5xmedian 21.5x 20.4xmedian 12.7x
P/S now vs peer median 5.4xmedian 1.4x 6.6xmedian 1.4x 1.6xmedian 3.1x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 89.3xmedian 12.4x 19.5xmedian 12.4x 11.1xmedian 6.9x
P/FCF now vs peer median -226.9xmedian 15.5x 47.1xmedian 15.5x 37.0xmedian 15.1x
P/B now vs peer median 4.1xmedian 1.6x 5.8xmedian 1.6x 2.5xmedian 2.1x
PEG now vs peer median 54.70median 1.70 3.07median 1.70 -1.19median 0.27

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 monthsAPDLINNUE
Revenue $12.60B $35.45B $36.10B
Gross profit $4.04B $17.14B $5.59B
Operating income -$593.10M $9.38B $4.17B
Net income -$19.70M $7.26B $3.26B
Free cash flow -$301.40M $4.98B $1.58B
R&D $90.80M $146.00M –
EPS (diluted) $-0.21 $15.59 $12.62
Cash & equivalents $980.50M $4.90B $2.48B
Total debt $17.48B $28.01B $28.20B
Shares (diluted) 222.80M 464.52M 228.50M
Enterprise value $63.56B $217.08B $47.58B

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
MetricAPDLINNUE
P/E -1,446x 32.5x 20.4x
P/FCF -226.9x 47.1x 37.0x
P/Operating cash flow 15.0x 22.4x 13.2x
P/S 5.4x 6.6x 1.6x
P/B 4.1x 5.8x 2.5x
P/Tangible book 4.2x 8.1x 2.9x
EV/EBITDA 89.3x 19.5x 11.1x
EV/EBIT -143.1x 27.5x 15.1x
EV/Revenue 6.7x 7.3x 1.7x
EV/FCF -281.6x 51.8x 39.8x
EV/Operating cash flow 18.6x 24.6x 14.2x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 54.70 3.07 -1.19

Growth

14 metrics
MetricAPDLINNUE
Revenue growth (1Y) 4.5% 6.6% 17.2%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) -1.0% 2.3% -1.2%
Gross profit growth (1Y) 5.1% 6.4% 73.8%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) 2.7% 5.4% -16.1%
Operating income growth (1Y) -138.7% 5.4% 94.4%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) -31.0% 9.0% -18.5%
Net income growth (1Y) -101.2% 8.1% 106.1%
Net income CAGR (3Y) -26.2% 8.2% -18.2%
EPS growth (1Y) -103.1% 10.0% 124.8%
EPS CAGR (3Y) -26.4% 10.6% -17.1%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 54.8% 5.8% 41.3%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 13.1% 6.1% -19.5%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) 93.5% -1.9% 511.2%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) 27.5% -2.7% -37.3%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricAPDLINNUE
Gross margin 32.1% 48.3% 15.5%
EBITDA margin 7.5% 37.2% 15.7%
Operating margin -4.7% 26.5% 11.5%
Pretax margin -0.7% 26.4% 11.4%
Net margin -0.4% 20.4% 8.0%
FCF margin -2.4% 14.0% 4.4%
Operating cash flow margin 36.3% 29.6% 12.3%
Return on equity 0.0% 18.3% 14.2%
Return on assets 0.0% 8.4% 9.0%
Return on invested capital 0.0% 10.8% 11.0%
Return on capital employed -1.6% 13.2% 13.4%
Asset turnover 0.3x 0.4x 1.0x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) -232.0x 1.4x 1.4x
Stock comp / revenue 0.4% 0.4% 0.2%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricAPDLINNUE
Debt / assets 43.2% 31.7% 19.2%
Debt / equity 1.1x 0.7x 0.3x
Net debt / EBITDA 17.4x 1.8x 0.8x
Debt / FCF -58.0x 5.6x 4.5x
Liabilities / assets 59.0% 54.0% 37.0%
Equity / assets 41.0% 46.0% 63.0%
Interest coverage -2.7x 37.4x 28.7x
Current ratio 1.1x 0.9x 2.5x
Quick ratio 0.6x 0.7x 1.3x
Cash ratio 0.2x 0.3x 0.5x
Altman Z-score 2.56 3.97 5.43

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricAPDLINNUE
Dividend yield 2.4% 1.2% 0.9%
Net buyback yield – 1.7% 1.1%
Shareholder yield 2.4% 3.0% 2.0%
Payout ratio (earnings) -8,114% 39.7% 15.7%
Payout ratio (FCF) -530.3% 57.8% 32.3%
Dividend growth (1Y) 1.2% 5.3% -0.8%
Dividend CAGR (3Y) 2.9% 6.1% -0.6%

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.

ConsensusAPDLINNUE
Forward P/E 21.9xFY2026 30.4xFY2026 12.9xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $14.01FY2026 $16.76FY2026 $20.03FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +16.5%FY2026 +1.9%FY2026 +159.8%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +5.3% +14.1% +6.5%
Revenue, next fiscal year $12.02BFY2026 $38.84BFY2026 $39.95BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY -0.2%FY2026 +14.3%FY2026 +22.9%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +8.6% -4.2% +8.6%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersAPDLINNUE
Held by institutions 91.2% 85.2% 79.2%
Institutions holding 1,772 2,321 1,541
Change in shares held, QoQ +2.0% +4.2% +2.2%
Institutions buying 745 1,213 751
Institutions selling 722 764 516
Buyers to sellers 1.03 1.59 1.46

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.

APDLINNUE
APD 1.00 0.52 0.12
LIN 0.52 1.00 0.11
NUE 0.12 0.11 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, APD, LIN and NUE?

Linde (LIN) is the largest by market capitalisation: Air Products & Chemicals (APD) $68.38B, Linde (LIN) $235.50B, Nucor (NUE) $58.20B.

Which stock is cheaper, APD, LIN and NUE?

Nucor (NUE) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Air Products & Chemicals (APD) -1,446x, Linde (LIN) 32.5x, Nucor (NUE) 20.2x). On next year's consensus earnings, Nucor (NUE) is cheapest (Air Products & Chemicals (APD) 21.9x, Linde (LIN) 30.4x, Nucor (NUE) 12.9x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Nucor (NUE) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Air Products & Chemicals (APD) +4.5%, Linde (LIN) +6.6%, Nucor (NUE) +17.2%.

Which company is more profitable?

Linde (LIN) has the highest net margin (Air Products & Chemicals (APD) -0.4%, Linde (LIN) 20.4%, Nucor (NUE) 8.0%). On return on invested capital, Nucor (NUE) leads (Air Products & Chemicals (APD) 0.0%, Linde (LIN) 10.8%, Nucor (NUE) 11.0%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Nucor (NUE) returned the most: Air Products & Chemicals (APD) +20.5%, Linde (LIN) +13.1%, Nucor (NUE) +86.4%. Over five years, Nucor (NUE) compounded fastest (Air Products & Chemicals (APD) +1.1%/yr, Linde (LIN) +10.1%/yr, Nucor (NUE) +20.3%/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%, Linde (LIN) 0.01%, Nucor (NUE) 0.01%.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Linde (LIN) has been the steadiest (Air Products & Chemicals (APD) 26.3%, Linde (LIN) 19.2%, Nucor (NUE) 31.8%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

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

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Nucor (NUE) 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.