Air Products & Chemicals, a leading industrial gas seller, announced a downward revision of its fiscal-year earnings guidance. The company now expects fiscal 2024 earnings in the range of $12.20 to $12.50 per share, down from the previous guidance of $12.80 to $13.10 per share. This update comes as a disappointment to analysts, who had predicted earnings of $12.97 per share.
In addition to the earnings revision, Air Products & Chemicals reported its first-quarter earnings for fiscal 2024. The company generated $2.82 per share in earnings on a revenue of $3 billion. However, this performance fell short of analyst expectations, which anticipated earnings of $3 per share on a revenue of $3.2 billion.
The sales breakdown by region in the first quarter reveals a decline of 8% in Europe with $731 million in sales, a 2% increase in Asia with $794 million in sales, and a 10% decrease in the Americas with $1.3 billion in sales.
Chief Executive Seifi Ghasemi attributed the lower-than-expected results to several factors, including a manufacturing slowdown in Asia, particularly in China, decreased helium demand, cost headwinds from a sale of equipment project, and currency devaluation in Argentina.
These announcements have led to a significant decline in Air Products & Chemicals stock. Shares were down 15% to $220.43, representing the largest percentage decrease since October 19, 1987. This decline makes the stock the worst performer in the S&P 500 for the day, while the overall market index was down 0.6%.
Leave a Reply