Best Chemical Stocks For 2015

Best Chemical Stocks For 2015: Air Products and Chemicals Inc. (APD)

Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. provides atmospheric gases, process and specialty gases, performance materials, equipment, and services worldwide. The company?s Merchant Gases segment sells atmospheric gases, such as oxygen, nitrogen, and argon; process gases, including hydrogen and helium; and medical and specialty gases for the metal, glass, chemical processing, food processing, healthcare, steel, general manufacturing, and petroleum and natural gas industries. This segment also offers respiratory therapies, home medical equipment, and infusion services primarily in Europe. Its Tonnage Gases segment provides hydrogen, carbon monoxide, nitrogen, oxygen, and syngas to the energy production and refining, chemical, and metallurgical industries; and produces dinitrotoluene used in the manufacture of a precursor of polyurethane foam. The company?s Electronics and Performance Materials segment offers nitrogen trifluoride, silane, arsine, phosphine, white ammonia, silicon tetra fluoride, carbon tetrafluoride, hexafluoromethane, critical etch gases, and tungsten hexafluoride; and tonnage gases, specialty chemicals, and services and equipment for the manufacture of silicon and compound semiconductors, thin film transistor liquid crystal displays, and photovoltaic devices. This segment also provides performance materials for a range of products, including coatings, inks, adhesives, civil engineering, personal care, institutional and industrial cleaning, mining, oil refining, and polyurethanes. Its Equipment and Energy segment designs and manufactures cryogenic equipment for air separation, hydrocarbon recovery and purification, natural gas liquefaction, and helium distribution; and offers plant design, engineering, procurement, and construction management services for the chemical and petrochemical manufacturing, oil and gas recovery and processing, and ! steel and primary metals processing industries. The company was founded in 1940 and is based in Al l entown, Pennsylvania.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By BLOGS.BARRONS.COM]

  Air Products & Chemicals: Activist investor Bill Ackman, whose Pershing Square has a 10% stake in the industrial gas producer, said in February that with the right CEO Air Products (APD) could nearly double. Davidson thinks CEO Seifi Ghasemi, who was appointed in June, is a perfect fit to squeeze more out of a company that already has good assets in a stable industry. "He's not going to have to transform the business," says Davidson, "he's just going to have to run it better." Davidson says the dividend, now at 2.38%, could be 60% higher in five years time.

• [By Tom Rojas and Maria Armental var popups = dojo.query(".socialByline .popC"); ]

  Air Products & Chemicals Inc.(APD) said its fiscal third-quarter profit rose 8.9% on stronger revenue, boosted by higher volumes across all business segments. The company also narrowed its earnings outlook for the fiscal year. Shares were inactive premarket.

source from Top Stocks For 2015:http://www.topstocksblog.com/best-chemical-stocks-for-2015-3.html