–Editor’s note: I will be taking weekly looks at regional stocks, focusing on the big ones but now and then adding something about the small and regional banks. They don’t trade a lot, but they are an important part of the Lehigh Valley economy– Jeff Ward, Lehigh Valley News Briefs.
This was not a huge week for any of the Lehigh Valley’s three New York Stock Exchange-traded companies: Air Products, PPL and Shift4.
Shift4 continues to make a good run. The payment-processing company (ticker: FOUR), based in Upper Macungie Township, closed Friday at $83.10.
That is up just a little more than 1% from a week ago, but a gain of about 21% from July 30. Billionaire founder and Chief Executive Jared Isaacman did take a ride into space this week, but what has helped the shares is probably more of the same: growth.
Shift4 agreed to acquire a gift-card and loyalty-program operator, Givex of Canada, for about $200 million in Canadian dollars ($148 million).
The company will be able to provide more services to clients — hotels, restaurants, big-league teams, stadiums and the like — making it harder for them to want to switch to another service.
Also, Shift4 looked about earlier this year for acquirers, but said it did not receive an offer big enough.
That could change. At some point, this $7.4 billion market capitalization company will become a big enough thorn in some competitor’s side that a big buyout offer may come along.
Maybe.
Air Products had a fairly quiet week. The maker of industrial gases (ticker: APD) closed at $278.75 on Friday, about 1% up on the week, but up about 5.5% in a month.
A little more than a month ago, Air Products formed a management board, with Chairman, Chief Executive and President Seifi Ghasemi in charge, of course. Ghasemi is an interesting CEO in that he will discuss his company’s share price. Some avoid that topic.
The company could get a boost with more agreements to sell “green” hydrogen, that is, hydrogen made using renewable power to split water, without emissions of greenhouse gases. Ghasemi sees his company leading the world to a clean and green future.
PPL finished the week at $31.91. Allentown-based PPL didn’t come out with much news. It is after all, a utility, but if the company starts signing up data-center clients, suddenly it is riding the AI wave.
Artificial intelligence uses data centers, and data centers use a lot of power.
In Bethlehem, OraSure also had a quiet week, finishing at $4.48 on the NASDAQ (ticker: OSUR). That is up about 1% from a week ago, and not much more above the month-ago price.
What is next for this maker of medical diagnostic tools? It got a lot of government contracts during the COVID-19 epidemic. That has run down.
A year ago, OraSure was trading at $6.46. Again, what is next?
Shift4: https://www.shift4.com/
Air Products: https://www.airproducts.com/
OraSure: https://orasure.com/press.html
Lehigh Valley News Briefs 