Why Air Products And Chemicals (APD) Stock Continues To Climb On Wednesday

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Air Products and Chemicals (APD) continue to rise, up 0.21% to $131, in after-hours trading today.

By the end of trading, 8.99 million shares of Air Products exchanged hands as compared to its average daily volume of about 721,000 shares.

The company, which is a worldwide supplier of industrial gases and equipment, specialty and intermediate chemicals, and environmental and energy systems, reached a high of 7.50% to $130.72 before the close, after announcing it has named Rockwood Holding Inc. (ROC) CEO Seifi Ghasemi as its new CEO beginning in July.

Must Read: Warren Buffett's 25 Favorite Stocks  STOCKS TO BUY: TheStreet Quant Ratings has identified a handful of stocks that can potentially TRIPLE in the next 12 months. Learn more

Ghasemi spent 13 years with Rockwood and is replacing retiring Air Products CEO John McGlade. Separately, TheStreet Ratings team rates AIR PRODUCTS & CHEMICALS INC as a Buy with a ratings score of A-. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation: "We rate AIR PRODUCTS & CHEMICALS INC (APD) a BUY. This is based on the convergence of positive investment measures, which should help this stock outperform the majority of stocks that we rate. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, good cash flow from operations, solid stock price performance and reasonable valuation levels. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had somewhat disappointing return on equity." Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows: Despite its growing revenue, the company underperformed as compared with the industry average of 11.2%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly increased by 3.9%. This growth in revenue does not appear to have trickled down to the company's bottom line, displayed by a decline in earnings per share. Net operating cash flow has increased to $478.50 million or 47.50% when compared to the same quarter last year. In addition, AIR PRODUCTS & CHEMICALS INC has also modestly surpassed the industry average cash flow growth rate of 38.34%. AIR PRODUCTS & CHEMICALS INC' earnings per share from the most recent quarter came in slightly below the year earlier quarter. This company has reported somewhat volatile earnings recently. But, we feel it is poised for EPS growth in the coming year. During the past fiscal year, AIR PRODUCTS & CHEMICALS INC increased its bottom line by earning $4.73 versus $4.66 in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings ($5.73 versus $4.73). Compared to its closing price of one year ago, APD's share price has jumped by 26.11%, exceeding the performance of the broader market during that same time frame. Looking ahead, the stock's sharp rise over the last year has already helped drive it to a level which is relatively expensive compared to the rest of its industry. We feel, however, that other strengths this company displays justify these higher price levels. You can view the full analysis from the report here: APD Ratings Report STOCKS TO BUY: TheStreet Quant Ratings has identified a handful of stocks that can potentially TRIPLE in the next 12 months. Learn more