Q1 2025 - Linde Plc - Full Analysis
Management actions will continue to support margin expansion and profit growth, irrespective of the macro
Today, Linde, the world’s leading industrial gases and engineering company, reported its Q1 2025 results. At the time of writing this recap, Linde stock is down close to 1%. It’s now been a little over a year since we shared our in-depth report on this boring, but highly stable compounder, and it’s fair to say that little’s changed (aside from the usual FX volatility).
The macro climate is still pointing to fairly muted growth for many industrials, yet Linde is able to keep the algorithm of 7-9% growth in NOPAT/share going. As industrial production growth picks up at some point, Linde’s operating leverage should deliver 12-15% growth in NOPAT/share. Hence, over the whole cycle, a >10% CAGR in underlying EPS remains a feasible target.
Resilient Business Model…
Similar to previous uncertain periods (that tend to be recessionary as far as industrial production goes), Linde’s management team talked about the internal capabilities to overcome today’s challenges. The below slide perfectly illustrates where it all starts: diversification across several end markets and an all-weather business model that provides reliable cash flow growth even as industrial production growth has stalled for many quarters now.
Let’s review Linde’s quarter in more detail.