Basic Materials Stocks To Look Out For: Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (APD), PPG Industries, Inc. (PPG)

Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (APD) ended last trading session with a change of -0.68 percent. It trades at an average volume of 1.4M shares versus 1.44M shares recorded at the end of last trading session. The share price of $137.82 is at a distance of 14.66 percent from its 52-week low and down -7.85 percent versus its peak. The company has a market cap of $29.95B and currently has 217.29M shares outstanding. The share price is currently -1.94 percent versus its SMA20, -3.19 percent versus its SMA50, and -0.12 percent versus its SMA200. The stock has a weekly performance of -1.07 percent and is -4.17 percent year-to-date as of the recent close.

March 8, 2017 — Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (APD) will introduce its new Freshline® IQ cryogenic tunnel freezer at Seafood Expo North America in Boston from March 19-21. The Freshline IQ freezer offers food processors continuous high throughput for a broad range of products with easy clean-up and minimal up-front capital investment.

The Freshline IQ freezer’s heat transfer capability enables vaporized liquid nitrogen to be dispersed optimally throughout the tunnel, which translates to the shortest freezer required to cool or freeze product, as well as minimized running costs. Based on ten-foot modular units that can be quickly and easily integrated into a customer’s existing production line, the Freshline IQ freezer can be expanded on-site to grow with increasing production needs. The new freezer has large openings to provide easy access for simpler cleaning and sloped surfaces to eliminate standing water. An optional remote monitoring system, enabled by the Industrial Internet of Things, allows food processors or Air Products to track real time variables or remotely troubleshoot issues to ensure optimization of the system.

PPG Industries, Inc. (PPG) recently recorded 0.58 percent change and currently at $102.68 is 15.49 percent away from its 52-week low and down -10.85 percent versus its peak. It has a past 5-day performance of 1.46 percent and trades at an average volume of 1.81M shares. The stock has a 1-month performance of 2.95 percent and is 8.79 percent year-to-date as of the recent close. There were about 259.21M shares outstanding which made its market cap $26.62B. The share price is currently 0.39 percent versus its SMA20, 2.98 percent versus its SMA50, and 2.27 percent versus its SMA200.

On March 10, 2017 PPG Industries, Inc. (PPG) announced that it will implement customer-specific price increases and surcharges in Asia to offset a significant rise in raw material costs. The price changes will impact a select group of automotive OEM (original equipment manufacturer) coatings and industrial coatings products, effective April 1 or as contracts permit.

“The coatings industry in Asia is currently experiencing a dramatic tightening of commodity supply, stemming from increased environmental regulations and controls, supplier capacity constraints, and regional availability of feedstocks,” said Tim Knavish, PPG senior vice president, automotive OEM coatings.