By Freddy Sebastian
Air Products & Chemicals said sales in its fiscal second quarter rose as it recorded higher on-site volumes and made continued progress on productivity and pricing, prompting it to raise its forecast for the full year.
The company said, though it remains cautious given uncertainty around the macroeconomic environment, that it expects to see benefits in the second half from continued non-helium pricing actions, progress on productivity actions, and new assets ramping up.
The provider of essential industrial gasses and chemicals on Thursday reported net income of $710.4 million, or $3.19 a share, for its three months ended March 31, compared with a loss of $1.73 billion, or $7.77 a share, a year earlier.
Stripping out certain one-time costs, earnings were $3.20 a share. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had expected adjusted earnings of $3.06 a share.
Sales climbed 9% to $3.17 billion, ahead of the $3.07 billion Wall Street had modeled. The company attributed the increase in part higher volumes, favorable currency and higher energy cost pass-through.
Chief Executive Officer Eduardo Menezes said the company took actions to strengthen helium supply chain resilience for customers, including drawing from the U.S. storage cavern that increased U.S. liquefaction. He also said they optimized its logistics network and container fleet.
A pricing headwind driven by helium was partially mitigated by pricing improvements across non-helium product lines, the company said.
For the current quarter, the company said it expects adjusted earnings per share of $3.25 to $3.35 a share. Analysts currently expect $3.32 a share.
For the full fiscal year, the Lehigh Valley, Pa., company raised its forecast for adjusted earnings of $13 to $13.25 a share, compared with Wall Street views for $13.13 a share, as well as capital expenditures of about $4 billion.
Write to Freddy Sebastian at freddy.sebastian@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 30, 2026 06:22 ET (10:22 GMT)
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