Air Products & Chemicals stock hit an all-time high on Dec. 3 and consolidated. In January Air Products, the No. 1 company in its industry, started climbing again and it looks headed to a fresh peak.
On Monday, the Relative Strength (RS) Rating for Air Products stock climbed to 83, up from 80 the day before.
Air Products Just Topped A Key Rating Benchmark
The raised 83 RS Rating shows that watchlist candidate Air Products & Chemicals outpaced all but 17% of all stocks this past year for price performance. It's noteworthy because research shows that the market's biggest winners tend to have an RS Rating of at least 80 in the early stages of their moves.
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Allentown, Pa.-based Air Products sells industrial and specialty gases, chemicals and equipment to the metals, chemicals, energy and other markets. In recent years it's been among the leaders in the growing renewable energy market.
Among its other key ratings Air Products has an 89 Composite Rating out of 99, an 84 EPS Rating and a terrific A+ Accumulation/Distribution Rating. The A+ rating shows that funds are eager buyers of its stock.
Air Products stock is working on a cup without handle with a 337 buy point, its prior high. See if the stock can break out in heavy trading. Monday afternoon the stock traded at about 326, down in sync with the market slide.
Stock Outstanding, Fundamentals Need Work
Although its ratings and stock action are outstanding, the company has posted mixed fundamentals over the past year. Earnings growth improved. It reported 7% growth, then 4%, 7% and a jump to 13% last quarter, to $3.56 per share.
However, revenue shrank for three quarters, falling 6%, 8% and 2% before the company reported unchanged sales on a year-over-year basis last quarter at $3.19 billion. Bullishly, analysts polled by FactSet expect mild, rising revenue growth over the next three quarters.
The company holds the No. 1 rank among its peers in the Chemicals-Specialty industry group. Perimeter Solutions and Luxfer Holdings are also among the group's highest-rated stocks.
IBD's proprietary RS Rating tracks technical performance by showing how a stock's price movement over the last 52 weeks measures up against that of other stocks on the major indexes.
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