Gassed up and rolling

Just three weeks into his new job last January as CEO of Praxair Inc., a smiling Stephen Angel rang the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange to commemorate the company”™s 100-year history.

Perhaps that was a knowing smile for what his business plan had in store as the Danbury-based industrial gases company entered its second century in business.

Under Angel, Praxair enjoyed the biggest appreciation in its stock of any Fairfield County company in 2007, with Praxair shares (NYSE: PX) up 51 percent as of mid-December to more than $88, helped in part by a $1 billion share repurchase program announced last summer.

Praxair easily outdistanced its neighbors ”“ its stock floated well above that of competitors Air Products and Chemicals Inc. and Airgas Inc., whose issues were up 46 percent and 27 percent respectively in 2007 as the year neared a close.

The entire sector has benefited from a booming industrial sector. Under Angel, Praxair increased profits 20 percent in the first nine months of 2007 to $861 million, while increasing revenue 11 percent to $6.9 billion. The company plans to raise prices next year between 10 percent and 20 percent for nitrogen, oxygen and several other gases; and up to 30 percent for helium.

Praxair”™s ballooning shares lifted it comfortably ahead of Stamford-based Hexcel Corp.”™s 42 percent stock gain in 2007, with Hexcel shares (NYSE: HXL) hitting $24.75 in mid-December. Hexcel found favor with investors once more by divesting a division that had come under fire for producing defective fabric for bulletproof vests.

Hartford-based United Technologies Corp., whose Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. division in Stratford is Fairfield County”™s largest employer, posted a 25 percent gain in its shares (NYSE: UTX) to $76.69 despite weakness in its Carrier Corp. air-conditioning division. Carrier now faces the prospect of a merger between two of its most formidable competitors: Ingersoll-Rand and Trane.

Both UTC and Fairfield-based General Electric have thrived under a booming aerospace market, fueled by military orders and the continued rebound of commercial aviation.  Unlike UTC, however, GE shares (NYSE: GE) were up just 1 percent at midmonth, trailing the Dow Jones Industrial Average”™s 7 percent improvement over the same period.  GE is the second largest employer in Fairfield County with more than 6,000 workers, and thousands more former workers and retirees in the area hold GE stock in their investment portfolios.

 

On the flip side of the coin, Bridgeport-based People”™s United Financial Inc. did not win investor votes, with its stock sagging 19 percent this year despite the company initiating expansions into New York and northern New England using the proceeds of an offering of stock.

That was only slightly better than Pitney Bowes Inc., which in misestimating the impact of postal reform legislation was forced to restate earnings expectations this fall. Pitney Bowes shares (NYSE: PBI) were down 18 percent as of mid-December to $37.14.

IMS Health Inc., which provides various information services for pharmaceutical companies and other health care vendors, also suffered an 18 percent drop in its stock to $22.35, despite the company buying back 10 million shares in the past year.

In mid-December, the Norwalk company”™s board authorized the company to repurchase another 20 million shares; the announcement nudged up IMS shares (NYSE: RX) slightly.