4-Star Stocks Poised to Pop: Praxair
Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, industrial gases producer Praxair (NYS: PX) has earned a respected four-star ranking.
With that in mind, let's take a closer look at Praxair's business and see what CAPS investors are saying about the stock right now.
Praxair facts
Headquarters (Founded) | Danbury, Conn. (1907) |
Market Cap | $28.8 billion |
Industry | Industrial gases |
Trailing-12-Month Revenue | $11.1 billion |
Management | CEO Stephen Angel (since 2007) |
Return on Equity (Average, Past 3 Years) | 23.1% |
Cash/Debt | $125 million / $6.31 billion |
Dividend Yield | 2.1% |
Competitors | Air Products and Chemicals (NYS: APD) |
Sources: S&P Capital IQ and Motley Fool CAPS.
On CAPS, 96% of the 686 members who have rated Praxair believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward. These bulls include sainitaly and jpriley47.
Just last month, sainitaly touched on a couple of Praxair's positives: "[G]rowing share in Asia (where most future global growth will occur); a commitment ... to reducing natural resources use/environmental impact."
Praxair even boasts a robust three-year average operating margin of 19.4%. That's higher than that of main rival Air Products (15.7%), as well as more conventional industrial plays like General Electric (NYS: GE) (10%) and United Technologies (NYS: UTX) (14.1%).
CAPS member jpriley47 elaborates on the Praxair bull case:
Strong business, strong base of operations, expanding into emerging markets rapidly and an environmentally conscious company. Contracts provide for relatively stable profits with on-site production. Will be stable during recessions and will expand rapidly as global growth begins to increase.
What do you think about Praxair, or any other stock for that matter? If you want to retire rich, you need to put together the best portfolio you can. Owning exceptional stocks is a surefire way to secure your financial future, and on Motley Fool CAPS, thousands of investors are working every day to find them. CAPS is 100% free, so get started!
Interested in another easy way to trackPraxair?Add it to your watchlist.
At the time thisarticle was published Fool contributor Brian Pacampara owns no position in any of the companies mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days.We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Fool's disclosure policy always gets a perfect score.
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