How much a stock's price changes over time is important for most investors, since price performance can both impact your investment portfolio and help you compare investment results across sectors and industries.
The fear of missing out, or FOMO, also plays a factor in investing, especially with particular tech giants, as well as popular consumer-facing stocks.
What if you'd invested in Linde (LIN) ten years ago? It may not have been easy to hold on to LIN for all that time, but if you did, how much would your investment be worth today?
Linde's Business In-Depth
With that in mind, let's take a look at Linde's main business drivers.
Linde plc, based in Guildford, the United Kingdom, is a leading global industrial gases and engineering company. The company serves chemicals and energy, food and beverage, electronics, healthcare, manufacturing, metals and mining, and other industrial markets. Linde generated 2025 sales of $34 billion.
With a wide range of applications for its industrial gases, the company helps customers improve productivity, reliability and efficiency. Its primary products include oxygen, nitrogen, argon, hydrogen, helium, carbon dioxide and specialty gases. Oxygen is used for life support in hospitals and for industrial processes. Hydrogen is used in refining, clean fuels and other process applications. High-purity and specialty gases are used in semiconductor and electronics manufacturing.
Linde also provides equipment, services and technologies that support gas processing and industrial project execution. Its engineering capabilities help customers build plants and improve operating efficiency. The company’s gases and technologies also support carbon capture, clean hydrogen production, space exploration and launch technologies, emissions reduction and other customer sustainability needs.
In October 2018, a compelling combination of Praxair and Linde AG created Linde plc. The combination brought together Linde AG’s engineering and technology capabilities with Praxair’s operating discipline. It created a larger and more diversified industrial gas leader with exposure to long-term macro growth trends.
Linde’s project backlog remains a central part of its growth profile. The company has a $9.9 billion high-quality backlog. Of this amount, $7.1 billion represents Sale of Gas projects supported by long-term supply agreements. The remaining $2.8 billion represents Sale of Plant engineering contracts. The backlog spans multiple geographies and end markets, including chemicals, manufacturing, metals, electronics and clean energy.
In the first quarter of 2026, Linde’s revenue distribution was: Americas (46%), EMEA (25%), APAC (19%), Engineering (6%), and Other (4%). Excluding Engineering sales, the company’s end-market mix included chemicals and energy, manufacturing, healthcare, metals and mining, electronics, food and beverage.
Bottom Line
While anyone can invest, building a lucrative investment portfolio takes research, patience, and a little bit of risk. If you had invested in Linde ten years ago, you're probably feeling pretty good about your investment today.
A $1000 investment made in July 2016 would be worth $4,820.88, or a gain of 382.09%, as of July 6, 2026, according to our calculations. This return excludes dividends but includes price appreciation.
Compare this to the S&P 500's rally of 255.84% and gold's return of 190.36% over the same time frame.
Going forward, analysts are expecting more upside for LIN.
Linde is a leading industrial gas supplier serving energy, healthcare, manufacturing, metals and electronics markets through long-term contracts with minimum purchase commitments that support stable cash flows during downturns. LIN's project backlog, led by long-term Sale of Gas projects, supports cash flow visibility and capital returns. Management also expects margin expansion to continue in 2026 through pricing, productivity, automation and disciplined capital allocation. First-quarter 2026 results showed EPS growth, higher pricing and project start-ups, while guidance assumes no economic improvement. However, EMEA volumes remain weak due to softer industrial, chemicals and energy demand, Middle East disruptions and uncertain European policy. The Neutral view balances resilient execution with muted industrial recovery and regional risk.
The stock has jumped 7.63% over the past four weeks. Additionally, no earnings estimate has gone lower in the past two months, compared to 4 higher, for fiscal 2026; the consensus estimate has moved up as well.
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Linde PLC (LIN): Free Stock Analysis Report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).