Head to Head Survey: Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) vs. Nutrien (NYSE:NTR)

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) and Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) are both large-cap materials companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, dividends, earnings and risk.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Nutrien and Linde”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Nutrien	$26.89 billion	1.26	$2.27 billion	$4.94	14.41
Linde	$33.99 billion	6.42	$6.90 billion	$15.48	30.58

Linde has higher revenue and earnings than Nutrien. Nutrien is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Linde, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

Nutrien pays an annual dividend of $2.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Linde pays an annual dividend of $6.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Nutrien pays out 44.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Linde pays out 41.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Nutrien has raised its dividend for 7 consecutive years and Linde has raised its dividend for 5 consecutive years. Nutrien is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Volatility & Risk

Nutrien has a beta of 0.62, suggesting that its share price is 38% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Linde has a beta of 0.72, suggesting that its share price is 28% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

63.1% of Nutrien shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 82.8% of Linde shares are held by institutional investors. 3.1% of Nutrien shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Linde shares are held by company 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.

Profitability

This table compares Nutrien and Linde’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Nutrien	8.44%	8.88%	4.27%
Linde	20.43%	20.09%	9.28%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Nutrien and Linde, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Nutrien	1	4	17	0	2.73
Linde	0	2	19	2	3.00

Nutrien currently has a consensus target price of $81.15, suggesting a potential upside of 13.99%. Linde has a consensus target price of $547.05, suggesting a potential upside of 15.56%. Given Linde’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Linde is more favorable than Nutrien.

Summary

Linde beats Nutrien on 15 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Nutrien

Nutrien Ltd. provides crop inputs and services. The company operates through four segments: Retail, Potash, Nitrogen, and Phosphate. The Retail segment distributes crop nutrients, crop protection products, seeds, and merchandise products. The Potash segment provides granular and standard potash products. The Nitrogen segment offers ammonia, urea, environmentally smart nitrogen, nitrogen solutions, nitrates, and sulfates. The Phosphate segment provides solid fertilizer, liquid fertilizer, and industrial and feed products. In addition, it provides services directly to growers through a network of farm centers in North America, South America, and Australia. The company is headquartered in Saskatoon, Canada.

About Linde

Linde plc operates as an industrial gas company in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and South Pacific. It offers atmospheric gases, including oxygen, nitrogen, argon, and rare gases; and process gases, such as carbon dioxide, helium, hydrogen, electronic gases, specialty gases, and acetylene. The company also designs and constructs turnkey process plants for third-party customers, as well as for the gas businesses in various locations, such as air separation, hydrogen, synthesis, olefin, and natural gas plants. It serves a range of industries, including healthcare, chemicals and energy, manufacturing, metals and mining, food and beverage, and electronics. The company was founded in 1879 and is based in Woking, the United Kingdom.