— Jeff Ward, Lehigh Valley News Briefs
Air Products and Shift4 are both preparing for new leadership, but that hasn’t hurt them.
Shares of the two Lehigh County-based companies hit 52-week highs last week.
Air Products (NYSE:APD) needs a new chairman, chief executive and president. CEO Seifi Ghasemi, 80, was voted off the board thanks to the efforts of activist investor Mantle Ridge. He is also leaving as CEO. The company’s most recent plan was to hire a president, and have that person move up to chief executive within three months. That could change.
The battle over leadership came down to focusing on Air Products’ industrial gas business versus Ghasemi’s vision of the company leading a clean-energy transition, promoting hydrogen as a clean alternative to fossil fuels.
Air Products shares hit a 52-week high of $338.00 on Friday before finishing the day at $335.26. At that price, the company’s market capitalization is $74.5 billion. Air Products will report fiscal first-quarter results on Thursday, though it has already disclosed a preliminary look at the numbers.
The company has already updated its website, now listing Ghasemi as president and CEO, no longer chairman. I’ll miss him, he knows the business and spoke freely about the company’s prospects. Perhaps too freely for some?
Shift4 also needs a new CEO. Founder Jared Isaacman is leaving to take over NASA. Recall that Isaacman sought bids for the company once, but said they weren’t high enough.
Isaacman is a pilot and has been to space twice on private SpaceX missions. He’s also a billionaire and a philanthropist.
When a short-selling outfit went after the company a couple years ago, Isaacman responded in measured tones and said he’d prove them wrong. The shares were trading around $69 then.
He did prove the shorts wrong. The shares (NYSE:FOUR) hit a 52-week high of $123.25 on Thursday. The closing price Friday was $119.85, giving the payment processer a market capitalization of $10.8 billion.
Shift4 will report fourth-quarter earnings on Feb. 18.
PPL (NYSE:PPL) has been quiet and finished the week at $33.60. The power company will report fourth-quarter earnings Feb. 13.
OraSure crept over the $4 mark. The Northampton County-based maker of diagnostic kits and medical-sample collection devices finished the week at $4.02.
— Disclosure: I own shares of Air Products, Shift4 and PPL.
Lehigh Valley News Briefs 