Air Products Expands NASA Partnership With $140M Contracts

Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. APD has secured new contracts valued at more than $140 million from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration ("NASA") to supply liquid hydrogen to several key NASA facilities, reinforcing its role as a long-standing industrial gas supplier to the nation’s space program.  

The agreements cover the delivery of roughly 36.5 million pounds of liquid hydrogen for NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama and Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. Liquid hydrogen is a critical cryogenic fuel used in combination with liquid oxygen to power launch vehicles and ground tests.  

Air Products noted that it has worked with NASA since 1957, supplying hydrogen and related services for programs spanning early missions to current Artemis II exploration efforts. The contracts extend this ongoing partnership and provide reliable fuel logistics for NASA’s launch infrastructure without materially changing the company’s broader business mix. 

Shares of APD are down 19.4% in the past year compared with the industry’s 20.8% decline. 

APD’s Zacks Rank & Key Picks

APD currently carries a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Some better-ranked stocks in the Basic Materials space are Albemarle Corporation ALB, LSB Industries LXU, and Methanex Corporation MEOH. ALB and LXU sport a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), while MEOH has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ALB’s current fiscal-year loss stands at 90 cents per share, implying a 62% year-over-year increase. Its earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the trailing four quarters while missing once, with the average surprise being 35.3%.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for LXU’s current fiscal-year earnings is pegged at 36 cents per share, indicating a 57% year-over-year increase. Its earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in two of the trailing four quarters while missing twice, with the average surprise being 141.3%.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for MEOH’s current fiscal-year earnings is pegged at $3.17 per share. Its earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the trailing four quarters while missing once, with the average surprise being 17.4%.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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