Air Products To Exhibit Industrial Gas Use For Food Processing

Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD) announced that it will exhibit the quality and productivity advantages of utilizing industrial gases in a range of natural, organic and plant-based food processing applications at the Natural Products Expo West. The expo will be held from Mar 4 to Mar 6 in Anaheim, CA.

The company will highlight its new Freshline QuickChill Injector in addition to the Freshline MP-Plus freezer at the expo. Notably, the QuickChill Injector can be fitted easily to new or existing kettles and vessels. It is geared to help processors minimize chilling time and increase the throughput of a range of liquid products such as marinades, sauces, brines and gravies. Freshline MP-Plus is the latest design in cryogenic tunnel freezer, used for rapid crust or full freezing.

At the company’s booth, specific processes and challenges of attendees will be addressed by industry specialists.

Food processors will learn about numerous advantages of Air Products' Freshline solutions that use liquid nitrogen and carbon dioxide to enhance a range of procedures such as food freezing and chilling. Compared with alternative systems, cryogenic gases’ extremely cold temperatures allow food products to be frozen or chilled in minutes. The rapid freezing results in lower weight losses for products, and helps ensure that moisture and quality are preserved longer. Notably, cryogenic gases are also useful in grinding industrial hemp, utraceuticals, spices and other ingredients.

Air Products is a leader in cryogenic technology applications. Notably, it operates a state-of-the-art food and grinding laboratory in Allentown, PA. There it can check a customer's product on production-scale equipment to help assess the viability of using cryogenics in their process, measure costs versus benefits of using cryogenics, and optimize their food processing activity.

The company’s shares have rallied 24.4% in the past year against the industry’s decline of 34.8%.

For fiscal 2020, it continues to expect adjusted earnings of $9.35-$9.60 per share, which suggests growth of 14-17% on a year-over-year basis.

It also expects adjusted earnings of $2.10-$2.20 per share for second-quarter fiscal 2020, implying a 9-15% rise year over year.

Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. Price and Consensus

Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider

Air Products currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Some better-ranked stocks in the basic materials space are Daqo New Energy Corp. (NYSE:DQ) , NovaGold Resources Inc. (NYSE:NG) and Commercial Metals Company (NYSE:CMC) .

Daqo New Energy has a projected earnings growth rate of 353.7% for 2020. The company’s shares have rallied 73.2% in a year. It currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

NovaGold has a projected earnings growth rate of 11.1% for 2020. It currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). The company’s shares have surged 121.4% in a year.

Commercial Metals currently has a Zacks Rank #2 and a projected earnings growth rate of 21.6% for 2020. The company’s shares have rallied 9.6% in a year.

5 Stocks Set to Double

Each was hand-picked by a Zacks expert as the #1 favorite stock to gain +100% or more in 2020. Each comes from a different sector and has unique qualities and catalysts that could fuel exceptional growth.

Most of the stocks in this report are flying under Wall Street radar, which provides a great opportunity to get in on the ground floor.

Today, See These 5 Potential Home Runs >>