LIN vs ECL Comparison: AI Score, Valuation, Performance and Upside
Compare Linde's industrial gas production and distribution business against Ecolab's water treatment, cleaning, and hygiene solutions serving similar industrial and institutional customers.
Use this Linde vs Ecolab comparison to evaluate the key differences across valuation, growth, profitability, and risk before making an investment decision.
LIN holds the edge across 3 of 5 key metrics in this comparison. ECL has delivered stronger 1-year price return (+2.38% vs -4.46%), though LIN has the better forward P/E setup (25.01x vs 30.45x for ECL). On fundamentals, ECL is growing revenue faster (9.70%), 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 +13.32% for ECL.
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 | ECL |
|---|---|---|
| AI scorei | 51.7 | 42.2 |
| AI ranki | #439 | #958 |
| Latest closei | $458.48 | $271.68 |
| 1M returni | -4.23% | -2.97% |
| 6M returni | -6.39% | +5.02% |
| 1Y returni | -4.46% | +2.38% |
How much would $10,000 be worth today if invested at the start of each period, with all dividends reinvested?
| Period | LIN | ECL |
|---|---|---|
| 1Y ago | $9.63K (-3.7%) started 2025-09-18 | $10.26K (+2.6%) started 2025-09-18 |
| 5Y ago | $16.71K (+67.1%) started 2021-09-20 | $13.57K (+35.7%) started 2021-09-20 |
| 10Y ago | $52.64K (+426.4%) started 2016-09-19 | $27.9K (+179.0%) started 2016-09-19 |
Hypothetical — past performance does not guarantee future results.
| Metric | LIN | ECL |
|---|---|---|
| Market capi | $225.65B | $80.38B |
| Trailing P/Ei | 31.54 | 38.44 |
| Forward P/Ei | 25.01 | 30.45 |
| Price/Salesi | N/A | N/A |
| EV/Revenuei | 7.06 | 5.30 |
| Analyst targeti | $547.24 | $324.95 |
| Target upsidei | +11.79% | +13.32% |
| Metric | LIN | ECL |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue growthi | 9.30% | 9.70% |
| Earnings growthi | 11.30% | 3.30% |
| EPS growthi | +11.30% | +3.30% |
| FCF margini | +11.74% | +8.76% |
| Operating margini | 28.12% | 18.52% |
| Profit margini | 20.43% | 12.57% |
| ROIC proxyi | 18.40% | 21.96% |
| Return on equityi | 18.40% | 21.96% |
| Dividend yieldi | 1.31% | 1.02% |
| Payout ratioi | 40.00% | 38.12% |
| Dividend growth streaki | No increase yet | No increase yet |
| Betai | 0.73 | 0.89 |
| Debt/equityi | 68.95 | 138.02 |
| Current ratioi | 0.88 | 1.84 |
| Quick ratioi | 0.68 | 1.50 |
Over the past year, LIN and ECL have moved weakly in the same direction (correlation of 0.39), 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 | ECL |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Y | Growthi | -3.68% | +2.59% |
| CAGRi | -3.68% | +2.59% | |
| Volatilityi | 18.94% | 21.82% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | -0.34 | 0.02 | |
| Sortino ratioi | -0.46 | 0.03 | |
| Max drawdowni | 18.87% | 20.31% | |
| Current drawdowni | 16.13% | 11.89% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 6.31% | 8.28% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 8.12% | 9.97% | |
| Max daily dropi | 5.95% | 4.09% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 7.34% | 8.32% | |
| 5Y | Growthi | +59.14% | +30.31% |
| CAGRi | +9.75% | +5.44% | |
| Volatilityi | 20.95% | 24.16% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.34 | 0.15 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.48 | 0.22 | |
| Max drawdowni | 22.82% | 43.70% | |
| Current drawdowni | 16.13% | 11.89% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 5.89% | 14.28% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 7.83% | 18.80% | |
| Max daily dropi | 6.26% | 8.97% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 11.95% | 14.59% | |
| 10Y | Growthi | +350.16% | +153.30% |
| CAGRi | +16.24% | +9.74% | |
| Volatilityi | 22.92% | 25.13% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.58 | 0.32 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.84 | 0.46 | |
| Max drawdowni | 32.59% | 43.70% | |
| Current drawdowni | 16.13% | 11.89% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 5.09% | 9.54% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 7.15% | 14.15% | |
| Max daily dropi | 10.28% | 11.74% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 19.59% | 24.62% |
| Category | LIN | ECL |
|---|---|---|
| Company | LIN | ECL |
| Sector | Basic Materials | Basic Materials |
| Industry | Specialty Chemicals | Specialty Chemicals |
| Core business | Linde plc operates as an industrial gas company worldwide. | Ecolab Inc. provides water, hygiene, and infection prevention solutions and services in the United States and internationally. |
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