Albemarle Corporation (ALB) vs Linde PLC (LIN)

Albemarle Corporation and Linde PLC are both Specialty Chemicals companies. Linde PLC is the larger, with a market value of $214.9B against $12.9B — 16.7× the size. Linde PLC trades at the lower P/E: 30.2× against 229×. Albemarle Corporation grew revenue faster over the last twelve months: 18.3% against 6.63%. Linde PLC has the higher net margin (20.4% vs 0.97%) and the higher return on invested capital (9.20% vs 1.46%). Both pay a dividend; Albemarle Corporation yields more (1.41% vs 1.33%). Across the 23 metrics below, Albemarle Corporation leads on 13 and Linde PLC on 10.

Valuation

Metric ALB LIN Specialty Chemicals median
P/E 228.60 30.20 24.83
P/S 2.19 6.13 1.46
P/B 1.56 5.35 1.76
Price to free cash flow 9.58 43.69 19.84
EV/EBITDA 12.27 18.21 13.18
EV/Sales 2.23 6.78 1.84
Earnings yield 0.44% 3.31% 2.11%
Free cash flow yield 10.44% 2.29% 2.29%

Profitability

Metric ALB LIN Specialty Chemicals median
Gross margin 23.81% 48.35% 29.23%
Operating margin 4.27% 26.45% 3.63%
Net margin 0.97% 20.43% 2.89%
Free cash flow margin 22.87% 14.03% 3.78%
Return on equity 0.69% 17.98% 3.62%
Return on assets 0.35% 8.31% 0.35%
Return on invested capital 1.46% 9.20% 2.75%

Growth

Metric ALB LIN Specialty Chemicals median
Revenue growth (TTM) 18.32% 6.63% 4.51%
EPS growth (last fiscal year) 48.57% 7.27% —
Revenue growth, 5-year CAGR 10.45% 4.52% 6.30%
Net income growth, 5-year CAGR 0.00% 22.50% 0.00%

Health

Metric ALB LIN Specialty Chemicals median
Debt to equity 0.18 0.69 0.54
Current ratio 2.09 0.88 1.94
Net debt to EBITDA 3.33 1.73 2.03

Dividend

Metric ALB LIN Specialty Chemicals median
Dividend yield 1.41% 1.33% 1.69%
Payout ratio 0.05 0.43 0.25

Size

Metric ALB LIN Specialty Chemicals median
Market cap 12.90b 214.90b 2.43b

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