FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) – Linde’s increased target range for annual profit provided the share of the industrial gases manufacturer and plant builder with further significant boosts on Thursday. It jumped 4.0 percent in the afternoon to EUR 210.10, which is the seventh trading day in a row and is back at the level of mid-September.
After the general price slide on the market in the last week of October, the Linde share quickly managed to break the 200-day line again. This average line, which signals the longer-term trend to chart-oriented investors, is currently 189 euros and thus not two euros below the closing price of the paper at the end of last year.
With the current price jump, the paper is also increasingly moving away from its closing level at the end of 2019. The price gain is currently 10 percent, while the losses in the Dax (DAX 30) add up to 5.6 percent.
The world’s largest industrial gases group owes this to the fact that it has so far got through the corona pandemic better than expected. Accordingly, after a profit increase in the third quarter, management raised the bar for the full year. According to CEO Steve Angel, there is considerable uncertainty about the future, but he is confident that he will be able to increase earnings and cash over the years.
In an initial reaction, analyst Markus Mayer from Baader Bank emphasized that the results were not only “very strong”. “They were also far better than those of the competition.” Mayer praised the ongoing efficiency improvements and the careful price management. In view of the market expectations for the annual earnings per share, the raised profit targets now mean an upward margin of around 4 percent.
“Much better than expected,” said Jonas Oxgaard from the Bernstein analysis company, calling the third quarter. The strength of the operating result (Ebitda) goes back to higher than forecast sales as well as to the expansion of the margins./ck/mne/jha/
