6. DuPont de Nemours, Inc. (NYSE:DD)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 42
DuPont de Nemours, Inc. (NYSE:DD) is a tech-based materials and solutions provider that is headquartered in Delaware, U.S. Its operations span across the U.S., Canada, MENA region, Europe, and Asia Pacific. The company operates through three segments: Electronics & Industrial, Water & Protection, and Corporate & Other. Within its Water & Protection, the company is engaged in water purification and separation for the production and utilization of hydrogen through which the company is striding towards contributing to the global transition to sustainable and clean energy.
In September 2023, the company came up with its first product that was meant for the production of green hydrogen – the DuPont™ AmberLite™ P2X110 Ion Exchange Resin. This resin’s purpose is to produce hydrogen from water and to make the chemical process in electrolyzers seamless.
The company generally maintained the performance of the previous quarter in the recently concluded 1st quarter of 2024. The company recorded net sales of $1.4 billion in the quarter as compared to $1.3 billion in the quarter a year ago, while the EBITDA margin stood at 27.4%, down by 50 basis points. The sales increase was a result of the acquisition of Spectrum the company made a year ago.
As per the full-year guidance for 2024, the company expects its net sales to go as high as $12.4 billion from $12.1 billion in 2023, operating EBITDA to go as high as $3.1 billion from $2.9 billion in 2023, and adjusted EPS to go as high as $3.75 per share from $3.5 in 2023. The company expects its water segment to flourish in the 2nd quarter on the back of higher demand. The demand for the segment was low in the first quarter, which led the segment’s EBITDA to fall by 14% to $295 million. Furthermore, the company is expecting its overall net sales to increase in the second quarter to $3.025 billion, and its EBITDA to increase from $682 million to $710 million in the second quarter. This company expects on the back of volume improvement in its segments and reduced destocking impacts in its water segment. Now whether the company can capitalize on these forecasts is a question that we shall be way about.
Nevertheless, 11 analysts are setting the stock price target at $89.3 from its current price of $80.2, which means they are seeing an upside of 11.3% in the next twelve months amidst the company’s optimistic guidance for the year and improved performance from its water segment. Moreover, 40 hedge fund holders have a stake in the stock, worth $2.1 billion. Thus, the stock makes it to our list of 10 Best Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Stocks to Buy.
