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US Equities · Finance research note

LIN — Linde plc

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2. Company Fundamentals

2.1 Competitiveness

Metric Value
Operating Margins 28.47%
Profit Margins 20.44%
Return on Equity 18.23%
Return on Assets 7.24%
Free Float 0.46B
Dividend Yield 1.23%
Short Int % Utilisation 1.4%

2.2 Growth

Metric Value
Revenue Growth 8.2%
Free Cash Flow 4.69B
EBITDA 19.09 (Ratio)
Enterprise Value 259.42B
EV/Revenue 7.49
EV/EBITDA 19.09

Revenue growth of 8.2% indicates steady, moderate expansion.

2.3 Management

Role Metric
Consensus Rating N/A

2.4 Return

Metric Value
Expected Return (Ann.)* 3.81%
Risk / Std Dev (Ann.)* 19.06%
1-Year Price Return* 1.91%

Latest Market Data (as of 2026-08-14, US Eastern time):

Metric Value
Last Price $482.74
52-Week Range $387.78 – $548.20
Observation Count 249 trading days

The return and risk statistics use daily adjusted closes from the retrieved one-year series and annualise daily moments using 252 trading days. The last price is the latest regular-market price reported for the stated date. Source: Yahoo Finance market data.

DuPont Model Analysis

The DuPont model decomposes return on equity (ROE) into three operating and capital-structure drivers:

ROE = Net Margin × Asset Turnover × Equity Multiplier

The comparison uses the latest two comparable annual periods available for the issuer, with reported statement amounts shown in US$. Revenue and net income are income-statement flows; total assets and shareholders’ equity are year-end balance-sheet figures. This is a simplified year-end-balance DuPont comparison rather than an average-balance ROE calculation.

DuPont component Calculation FY2025 FY2024
Revenue Reported revenue $33.99B $33.01B
Net income Reported net income $6.90B $6.57B
Total assets Year-end reported balance $86.82B $80.15B
Shareholders’ equity Year-end reported balance $38.24B $38.09B
Net margin Net income ÷ revenue 20.30% 19.89%
Asset turnover Revenue ÷ total assets 0.3915x 0.4118x
Equity multiplier Total assets ÷ shareholders’ equity 2.2700x 2.1040x
ROE Net margin × asset turnover × equity multiplier 18.04% 17.23%

Source: Yahoo Finance annual statements. Values are based on the two latest comparable annual periods returned by the source; fiscal period labels use the statement period-end year.

2.5 FCFF DCF Valuation

Valuation basis: This research model follows a five-year, unlevered FCFF DCF. It starts from reported annual operating inputs, forecasts revenue and operating cash conversion under an explicit mechanical policy, discounts FCFF at WACC, applies a Gordon-growth terminal value, and bridges enterprise value to an indicative common-equity value per share. It is an analytical estimate rather than a recommendation or personalised target price.

Step 1 — Forecast Operating Profit and NOPAT

Reported operating input Value
Revenue $33.99B
Prior annual revenue $33.01B
EBIT $9.36B
Tax rate 22.36%
NOPAT = EBIT × (1 − tax rate) $7.27B
Forecast start-growth basis 2.97%
Forecast policy latest reported annual revenue growth, bounded to -10.00% / 15.00%

Step 2 — Calculate FCFF

Current FCFF building block Value
NOPAT $7.27B
Add: depreciation & amortisation $3.76B
Less: capital expenditure -$5.26B
Less/(add): working-capital cash-flow movement -$240.00M
Current unlevered FCFF $5.53B

Explicit FCFF forecast

Forecast year Revenue growth NOPAT D&A Capex Change in NWC FCFF Present value
1 2.97% $7.48B $3.87B -$5.42B -$247.13M $5.69B $5.48B
2 2.85% $7.70B $3.99B -$5.18B -$254.19M $6.25B $5.58B
3 2.74% $7.91B $4.09B -$4.91B -$261.14M $6.83B $5.65B
4 2.62% $8.12B $4.20B -$4.62B -$267.98M $7.43B $5.70B
5 2.50% $8.32B $4.31B -$4.31B -$274.68M $8.04B $5.72B

Step 3 — Determine the Discount Rate (WACC)

WACC input Value
Risk-free rate 4.71%
Equity risk premium assumption 5.50%
Beta 0.73
Cost of equity 8.70%
Pre-tax cost of debt 1.83%
WACC 7.89%
WACC validation within standard range

Step 4 — Estimate Terminal Value

Terminal-value input Value
Perpetuity growth rate 2.50%
Terminal value $153.06B
Implied terminal EV / EBITDA 10.19x
Terminal value as % of enterprise value 78.83%

Step 5 — Discount Cash Flows to Enterprise Value

Enterprise-value component Value
Present value of explicit FCFF $28.13B
Present value of terminal value $104.72B
Indicated enterprise value $132.85B
Discounting convention mid-year for explicit FCFF; terminal value discounted at year-end five

Step 6 — Convert Enterprise Value to Equity Value

Equity bridge Value
Indicated enterprise value $132.85B
Less: gross interest-bearing debt $28.07B
Add: cash and equivalents $5.06B
Add: affiliate investments $0.00
Less: minority interests $1.50B
Indicated common equity value $108.34B

Step 7 — Calculate Indicative Value Per Share

Per-share output Value
Shares used 472,195,000.00
Share-count basis reported diluted weighted-average shares
Current market price $481.03
DCF indicative value per share $229.43
Indicative value vs. market price -52.30%

Model Integrity Checks

Check Result
Perpetuity growth is below the risk-free rate pass
Perpetuity growth is below WACC pass
WACC is within the configured operating-company range pass
Terminal-year FCFF is positive pass
Terminal capex converges to D&A pass
Terminal-value concentration within review band
Implied price differs from spot by more than 30% review required

2.6 Investor-Style Research Screen

Educational screen Result
Buffett-inspired cash-quality checks 3/4 evidenced checks
Lynch-inspired balance-and-growth checks 4/4 evidenced checks

Data lineage: Yahoo Finance public market and reported-statement data; retrieval timestamp: 2026-08-18 17:40:16.423628 UTC; latest reported fiscal period: 2025-12-31 00:00:00. Default assumptions: five-year forecast, mid-year discounting for explicit FCFF, a maximum 2.50% perpetuity-growth rate below both WACC and the risk-free rate, historical operating-ratio persistence, and capex convergence to D&A by year five. No sell-side consensus or management guidance is substituted for reported inputs. This is research and analysis only, not personalized financial advice.

2.7 Quantitative Factor Diagnostics

Model basis: Daily issuer USD excess returns are regressed in-sample using ordinary least squares on matching regional Fama–French factors. FF3 estimates market, size, and value loadings; FF5 adds profitability and investment. Coefficients are descriptive historical exposures, not predictions.

Estimation input Value
Regional factor set US
Factor-return currency USD
Issuer-return basis USD adjusted total return
Estimation window 2025-08-19 to 2026-06-30
Aligned daily observations 217
Minimum observation requirement 120
Currency conversion for HK listings not required

Fama–French Three-Factor and Five-Factor Results

Diagnostic FF3 FF5
Annualised alpha -4.74% 1.05%
Adjusted R² 0.08 0.11
Annualised residual volatility 17.19% 16.81%
Factor loading (t-statistic) FF3 FF5
Market excess return (Mkt-RF) 0.29 (2.88) 0.43 (3.78)
Size (SMB) -0.08 (-0.59) -0.17 (-1.16)
Value (HML) 0.51 (4.31) 0.26 (1.80)
Profitability (RMW) NM 0.12 (1.00)
Investment (CMA) NM 0.56 (2.66)

Definitions: Mkt-RF is the market return less the risk-free rate; SMB is small minus big; HML is high minus low book-to-market; RMW is robust minus weak profitability; CMA is conservative minus aggressive investment. Factor returns are sourced from the Kenneth R. French Data Library; issuer adjusted-return history is sourced from Yahoo Finance. For Hong Kong listings, adjusted HKD prices are converted into USD with daily USD/HKD closes before return calculation to match the USD regional factor basis. This is an in-sample historical regression; coefficients and t-statistics do not establish causation or predict future returns. This is research and analysis only, not personalized financial advice.

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