Head-To-Head Survey: Solstice Advanced Mat (NASDAQ:SOLS) versus Air Products and Chemicals (NYSE:APD)

Air Products and Chemicals (NYSE:APD) and Solstice Advanced Mat (NASDAQ:SOLS) are both materials companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, dividends, institutional ownership, profitability, earnings and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Air Products and Chemicals and Solstice Advanced Mat, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Air Products and Chemicals	0	7	11	1	2.68
Solstice Advanced Mat	0	4	8	1	2.77

Air Products and Chemicals currently has a consensus target price of $335.59, indicating a potential upside of 8.26%. Solstice Advanced Mat has a consensus target price of $77.30, indicating a potential upside of 21.45%. Given Solstice Advanced Mat’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Solstice Advanced Mat is more favorable than Air Products and Chemicals.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Air Products and Chemicals and Solstice Advanced Mat”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Air Products and Chemicals	$12.04 billion	5.73	-$394.50 million	$2.38	130.24
Solstice Advanced Mat	$3.89 billion	2.60	$237.00 million	$2.04	31.20

Solstice Advanced Mat has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Air Products and Chemicals. Solstice Advanced Mat is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Air Products and Chemicals, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Air Products and Chemicals and Solstice Advanced Mat’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Air Products and Chemicals	-0.38%	16.87%	7.18%
Solstice Advanced Mat	7.79%	27.15%	6.97%

Dividends

Air Products and Chemicals pays an annual dividend of $7.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. Solstice Advanced Mat pays an annual dividend of $0.30 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. Air Products and Chemicals pays out 304.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Solstice Advanced Mat pays out 14.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Air Products and Chemicals has increased its dividend for 43 consecutive years. Air Products and Chemicals is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

81.7% of Air Products and Chemicals shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.9% of Air Products and Chemicals shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Solstice Advanced Mat shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Air Products and Chemicals beats Solstice Advanced Mat on 10 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Air Products and Chemicals

Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. provides atmospheric gases, process and specialty gases, equipment, and related services in the Americas, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, India, and internationally. The company produces atmospheric gases, including oxygen, nitrogen, and argon; process gases, such as hydrogen, helium, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and syngas; and specialty gases for customers in various industries, including refining, chemical, manufacturing, electronics, energy production, medical, food, and metals. It also designs and manufactures equipment for air separation, hydrocarbon recovery and purification, natural gas liquefaction, and liquid helium and liquid hydrogen transport and storage. The company was founded in 1940 and is headquartered in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

About Solstice Advanced Mat

Solstice Advanced Materials is a leading global specialty materials company that advances science for smarter outcomes. Solstice offers high-performance solutions that enable critical industries and applications, including refrigerants, semiconductor manufacturing, data center cooling, nuclear power, protective fibers, healthcare packaging and more.