In This Article:
L'Air Liquide S.A. AIQUY has received a grant of €110 million (roughly $115 million) from the European Innovation Fund, which boasts of being one of the world’s largest programs for promoting innovative low-carbon technologies.
AIQUY was awarded this grant to develop its ENHANCE project, the first European industrial-scale project for the production and distribution of low-carbon and renewable hydrogen using ammonia as a feedstock. AIQUY plans to construct, own and operate a first-of-its-kind large-scale renewable ammonia cracking facility and an innovative hydrogen liquefier as part of this project.
Air Liquide plans to retrofit one of its hydrogen production units located in the Port of Antwerp-Bruges. The project would run by capitalizing on the expertise gathered from the company’s ammonia cracking pilot plant located in the port of Antwerp. This new facility is intended to produce gaseous and liquid hydrogen by using ammonia as its feedstock instead of natural gas. The production, liquification and distribution of hydrogen would help develop a supply chain of low-carbon and renewable hydrogen in Europe. The use of ammonia would allow the project to reduce CO2 emissions by more than 300,000 tons per year.
The ENHANCE project is in line with the company’s ADVANCE strategic plan to support AIQUY’s commitment to energy transition. Hence, the support from the European Commission has been welcomed by the company.
AIQUY shares have dipped 12.8% in the past year against a rise of 1.9% for its industry.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Zacks Rank and Other Key Picks
Air Liquide currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Some other top-ranked stocks in the Basic Materials space are DuPont de Nemours, Inc. DD, CF Industries Holdings, Inc. CF and Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. AXTA. While CF sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) at present, both DD and AXTA carry a Zacks Rank #2 each. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for DD’s current-year earnings is pegged at $3.88, indicating a year-over-year rise of 11.5%. DD’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the last four quarters, with the average earnings surprise being 12.9%. The company’s shares have gained 15.7% in the past year.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CF’s current-year earnings is pegged at $6.32. CF’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in two of the last four quarters while missing it in the remaining two, with the earnings surprise being 10.3%, on average. The stock has gained 19.8% in the past year.