Praxair - A Comparison With Air Products And Chemicals

I wanted to take another look at the basic materials sector. I decided to focus on the industrial gases sub- sector, as I already analyzed it over a year ago. I started by analyzing Air Products and Chemicals (NYSE:APD), and found it to be a great company, that is currently trades at an unattractively valuation. In this article, I will look deeper into its peer Praxair (NYSE:PX). At the moment I don't own any stocks from the basic materials sector. I allocate 10% of my portfolio to energy and basic materials. Both sectors are very volatile, and tend to be very cyclical, and this is why I only allocate a small part of my portfolio to these sectors. Praxair is very interesting right now as it is merging with its giant German peer Linde. I will analyze Praxair using my analysis thesis which is summarized in the following flowchart.