LIN · NMS · Basic Materials
Linde plc
Also onShortfallConsensus DriftCrosscheck
Implied value per share
USD 219.34
Market price
USD 519.72
Implied upside
-57.8%
10-year forecast · Perpetuity growth terminal value · Mid-year discounting · Base case · Price 2026-11-02 · Accounts to 2025-12-31
Current EV/EBITDA of 20.1x sits outside a defensible 3-20x band, so the exit multiple is capped at 20.0x. A multiple that far out usually means EBITDA is the wrong denominator for this business.
Value Per Share
Same forecast, different terminal treatment. Percentages vs price.
Forecast Cashflows
Reporting currency (USD). Outflows negative.
| Line | FY26 | FY27 | FY28 | FY29 | FY30 | FY31 | FY32 | FY33 | FY34 | FY35 | CAGR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | USD 36.5bn | USD 38.2bn | USD 39.9bn | USD 41.6bn | USD 43.2bn | USD 44.8bn | USD 46.3bn | USD 47.7bn | USD 49.1bn | USD 50.3bn | +3.6% |
| EBIT | USD 8.9bn | USD 9.3bn | USD 9.7bn | USD 10.1bn | USD 10.5bn | USD 10.9bn | USD 11.3bn | USD 11.6bn | USD 11.9bn | USD 12.2bn | +3.6% |
| NOPAT | USD 7.0bn | USD 7.3bn | USD 7.7bn | USD 8.0bn | USD 8.3bn | USD 8.6bn | USD 8.9bn | USD 9.2bn | USD 9.4bn | USD 9.7bn | +3.6% |
| Add depreciation & amortisation | USD 4.3bn | USD 4.5bn | USD 4.7bn | USD 4.9bn | USD 5.1bn | USD 5.2bn | USD 5.4bn | USD 5.6bn | USD 5.7bn | USD 5.9bn | +3.6% |
| Less capital expenditure | USD -4.6bn | USD -4.9bn | USD -5.2bn | USD -5.5bn | USD -5.8bn | USD -6.2bn | USD -6.5bn | USD -6.8bn | USD -7.1bn | USD -7.4bn | +5.5% |
| Capex, % of revenue | 12.5% | 12.8% | 13.0% | 13.3% | 13.5% | 13.7% | 14.0% | 14.2% | 14.5% | 14.7% | - |
| Less increase in working capital | USD -296.4m | USD -208.1m | USD -205.0m | USD -200.7m | USD -195.0m | USD -187.9m | USD -179.5m | USD -169.8m | USD -158.8m | USD -146.6m | -7.5% |
| Free cashflow to firm | USD 6.4bn | USD 6.7bn | USD 6.9bn | USD 7.1bn | USD 7.3bn | USD 7.5bn | USD 7.7bn | USD 7.8bn | USD 7.9bn | USD 8.0bn | +2.5% |
| Discount factor | 0.9632 | 0.8935 | 0.8290 | 0.7690 | 0.7134 | 0.6619 | 0.6140 | 0.5696 | 0.5284 | 0.4902 | - |
| Present value | USD 6.2bn | USD 6.0bn | USD 5.7bn | USD 5.5bn | USD 5.2bn | USD 5.0bn | USD 4.7bn | USD 4.4bn | USD 4.2bn | USD 3.9bn | - |
| Present Value Of The Forecast | USD 50.9bn | ||||||||||
Discount Rate
Source shown per component. All overridable above.
| Risk-free rate | 4.89% | US 10-year Treasury (^TNX), 2026-11-02 |
| Equity risk premium | 4.23% | Damodaran, January 2026 |
| Beta | 0.786 | Reported 0.680, pulled toward 1.0 (Blume) |
| Cost of equity | 8.22% | Risk-free + beta x equity risk premium |
| Cost of debt | 5.29% | Risk-free + 40bp, the spread for a AAA rating at 19.9x interest cover. Book interest / average debt was lower, at 1.8%. |
| Market capitalisation | USD 238.6bn | 89.5% of capital |
| Total debt | USD 28.1bn | 10.5% of capital, book value as a proxy |
| Tax rate | 21.0% | Effective, capped at statutory |
| WACC | 7.79% | E/V x Re + D/V x Rd x (1 - t) |
Terminal Value
Perpetuity growth is intrinsic. The exit multiple defaults to the company's current EV/EBITDA, so it answers a different question - what the shares are worth if today's rating holds and EBITDA grows as forecast.
Perpetuity growth at 2.50%
60% of EV
- Forecast FCFF, final year
- USD 8.0bn
- Capex at depreciation, working capital in reinvestment
- USD 10.3bn
- Less reinvestment at g/ROIC (22.7% of NOPAT)
- USD -2.3bn
- Capitalised
- USD 8.0bn
- ROIC (reported)
- 11.0%
- Terminal value, undiscounted
- USD 154.5bn
- Terminal value, discounted
- USD 75.7bn
- Enterprise value
- USD 126.6bn
- Less net debt
- USD 23.0bn
- Equity value
- USD 103.6bn
Exit at 20.0x EBITDA
78% of EV
- Terminal value, undiscounted
- USD 362.1bn
- Terminal value, discounted
- USD 177.5bn
- Enterprise value
- USD 228.4bn
- Less net debt
- USD 23.0bn
- Equity value
- USD 205.4bn
Spread between methods: 66%.
Sensitivity
Value per share (USD) by discount rate and long-run growth.
| Long-run growth | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Discount rate | 1.50% | 2.00% | 2.50% | 3.00% | 3.50% |
| 5.79% | 336.42 | 353.61 | 376.79 | 409.17 | 456.80 |
| 6.79% | 263.44 | 270.49 | 279.75 | 292.08 | 308.88 |
| 7.79% | 213.72 | 216.09 | 219.33 | 223.73 | 229.68 |
| 8.79% | 177.68 | 177.71 | 178.09 | 178.90 | 180.27 |
| 9.79% | 150.37 | 149.19 | 148.12 | 147.20 | 146.46 |
Outlined: this model. Green text: above today's price of 519.72. Shading: distance from this model's own value.
Priced In
What each input would have to be to justify the current price, one at a time.
| Input | Actual | Model | Implied | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth, a year | 0.6% | 4.0% | 13.3% | |
| EBIT margin | 27.2% | 24.3% | 52.4% | |
| Discount rate | - | 7.8% | 5.0% |
Live formulas, not pasted numbers - edit a driver and the workbook reprices.
Yahoo Finance and RBA data. General information, not advice. Methodology.