Investopedia: Industry At A Glance - Specialty Chemicals

The chemicals industry is one of the most economically-sensitive industries around, and many of the major chemical companies are very nearly proxies for global GDP growth. Specialty chemicals, though, is a subsector with some notable differences. It is certainly not fair to say that these companies are neither cyclical nor invulnerable to global growth trends, but many of these companies offer products or serve niches that tend to be a little more stable.


There are ample worries about growth in the market today. If the economy is truly headed into a double-dip recession, these companies are not going to be notable outperformers. On the other hand, many of these stocks have been hit on growth worries and investors may find that these companies have either been sold too far, or at least merit spots on watchlists for the recovery in growth expectations.

Air Products (NYSE:APD)
If you want hydrogen or helium, there's a good chance you'll do business with Air Products. APD is a global leader in atmospheric and process gasses. These are critical inputs in many industrial and manufacturing processes and there are substantial advantages to scale and scope. That said, APD has about 20% exposure to the electronics industry (good in most periods, but arguably a negative today) and the company's profitability goals for 2015 are starting to look a little too ambitious. That said, the stock looks undervalued today and a 3% dividend yield is not a bad sweetener.




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