LIN vs DOW Comparison: AI Score, Valuation, Performance and Upside
Compare Linde's contracted, high-margin industrial-gas model against Dow's cyclical commodity-chemicals exposure.
Use this Linde vs Dow Inc. comparison to evaluate the key differences across valuation, growth, profitability, and risk before making an investment decision.
DOW holds the edge across 3 of 5 key metrics in this comparison. DOW leads on both 1-year return (+45.46%) and forward P/E quality (16.62x vs 25.01x for LIN), a relatively favorable combination of momentum and valuation. On fundamentals, DOW is growing revenue faster (19.70%), while LIN maintains the higher operating margin (28.12%) — a classic growth-versus-profitability split. Analyst consensus implies similar upside for both: +11.79% for LIN and +13.69% for DOW.
Human Wall Street analysts' price targets, typically implying a ~12-month view — a separate signal from this site's own AI Prediction Signal further down the page, which is a 5-/30-day machine-learning forecast based on price history alone.
| Metric | LIN | DOW |
|---|---|---|
| AI scorei | 54.2 | 28.2 |
| AI ranki | #309 | #2405 |
| Latest closei | $511.55 | $33.79 |
| 1M returni | +6.69% | +20.81% |
| 3M returni | +5.55% | +11.41% |
| 6M returni | +2.25% | -17.18% |
| 1Y returni | +24.11% | +45.46% |
How much would $10,000 be worth today if invested at the start of each period, with all dividends reinvested?
| Period | LIN | DOW |
|---|---|---|
| 1Y ago | $12.24K (+22.4%) started 2025-11-04 | $14.96K (+49.6%) started 2025-11-04 |
| 5Y ago | $17K (+70.0%) started 2021-11-04 | $8.72K (-12.8%) started 2021-11-04 |
| 10Y ago | $60.43K (+504.3%) started 2016-11-04 | $13.72K (+37.2%) started 2019-03-20 |
Hypothetical — past performance does not guarantee future results.
| Metric | LIN | DOW |
|---|---|---|
| Market capi | $225.65B | $22.04B |
| Trailing P/Ei | 31.54 | 62.67 |
| Forward P/Ei | 25.01 | 16.62 |
| Price/Salesi | N/A | 0.47 |
| EV/Revenuei | 7.06 | 0.94 |
| Analyst targeti | $547.24 | $34.69 |
| Target upsidei | +11.79% | +13.69% |
| Metric | LIN | DOW |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue growthi | 9.30% | 19.70% |
| Earnings growthi | 11.30% | -73.30% |
| EPS growthi | +11.30% | -73.30% |
| FCF margini | +11.74% | +0.58% |
| Operating margini | 28.12% | 11.59% |
| Profit margini | 20.43% | -3.13% |
| ROIC proxyi | 18.40% | -5.54% |
| Return on equityi | 18.40% | -5.54% |
| Dividend yieldi | 1.31% | 4.59% |
| Payout ratioi | 41.83% | 700.00% |
| Dividend growth streaki | No increase yet | No increase yet |
| Betai | 0.73 | 0.42 |
| Debt/equityi | 68.95 | 111.91 |
| Current ratioi | 0.88 | 1.75 |
| Quick ratioi | 0.68 | 0.89 |
Over the past year, LIN and DOW have moved weakly in the same direction (correlation of 0.16), based on daily returns.
Lower drawdown and smaller single-period drops generally indicate a smoother ride, though they do not guarantee lower future risk.
| Period | Metric | LIN | DOW |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Y | Growthi | +22.40% | +49.58% |
| CAGRi | +22.45% | +49.71% | |
| Volatilityi | 18.68% | 41.50% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.95 | 1.08 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 1.37 | 1.70 | |
| Max drawdowni | 16.31% | 35.47% | |
| Current drawdowni | 6.42% | 19.30% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 4.71% | 14.43% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 6.63% | 18.89% | |
| Max daily dropi | 5.95% | 10.82% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 6.62% | 10.86% | |
| 5Y | Growthi | +61.87% | -28.78% |
| CAGRi | +10.11% | -6.56% | |
| Volatilityi | 20.91% | 34.09% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.35 | -0.16 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.51 | -0.23 | |
| Max drawdowni | 22.82% | 65.60% | |
| Current drawdowni | 6.42% | 43.72% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 6.12% | 28.74% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 8.02% | 34.06% | |
| Max daily dropi | 6.26% | 17.45% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 11.95% | 25.43% | |
| 10Y | Growthi | +416.79% | -6.18% |
| CAGRi | +17.85% | -0.83% | |
| Volatilityi | 22.95% | 38.42% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.64 | 0.05 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.93 | 0.08 | |
| Max drawdowni | 32.59% | 65.60% | |
| Current drawdowni | 6.42% | 43.72% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 5.20% | 24.48% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 7.25% | 29.85% | |
| Max daily dropi | 10.28% | 21.66% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 19.59% | 40.97% |
| Category | LIN | DOW |
|---|---|---|
| Company | LIN | DOW |
| Sector | Basic Materials | Basic Materials |
| Industry | Specialty Chemicals | Chemicals |
| Core business | Linde plc operates as an industrial gas company worldwide. | Dow Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides various materials science solutions for packaging, infrastructure, mobility, and consumer applications in the United States, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, India, t… |
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