(News Bulletin 247) – Air Liquide recorded the second strongest rise in the CAC 40 index on Thursday on the Paris Stock Exchange following a recommendation upgrade from Berenberg, who went buy on the stock.
Shortly before 10:30 a.m., the title of the French industrial gas specialist gained 1.6%, just behind Capgemini (+ 1.9%) which took advantage of the enthusiasm for technology stocks after the good results published by Nvidia.
Berenberg this morning raised its recommendation on Air Liquide to ‘buy’ against ‘hold’ so far, with a price target raised from 165 to 178 euros.
In its research note, the German establishment praises the “better than expected” operational discipline shown by the industrial group.
“The reason why we posted a neutral view on Air Liquide for some time was due to our concerns about possible overinvestment in the very fragmented hydrogen and ammonia segment,” the intermediary points out.
Berenberg explains that he feared that this strategy would lead the group to move away from its traditional economic model based on firm purchase contracts (‘take-or-pay’) so characteristic of the sector.
‘The last quarters have, on the contrary, provided proof that the company was paying attention to its investment policy, despite a strengthened balance sheet which could encourage it to increase spending’, he underlines.
On the stock market, the Air Liquide share is now up more than 24% since the start of the year, making it one of the strongest annual increases in the CAC 40 index alongside STM, Hermès, Saint-Gobain, Stellantis and Safran.
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