LIN

At 35x, investors are paying up; a fair amount of future growth is already in the price.

Share price divided by earnings per share: what you pay for each $1 of yearly profit. Roughly 15 to 25 is typical, above 40 is richly priced, and negative means the company is losing money.

A 1.2% yield is modest: a small income on top of whatever the share price does.

The yearly dividend as a percent of the share price: the cash income each share pays out. Around 2 to 6% is healthy; above roughly 8% often signals the payout may be cut.

A 7.9% return on assets is reasonable for a company of this kind.

Profit earned on each dollar of assets: how efficiently the whole asset base is used. Above 8% is strong.

At 1.23, the company carries a moderate, manageable amount of debt.

Total liabilities divided by shareholder equity: how heavily the company leans on borrowing. Below 1 is conservative; above 2 is highly leveraged.

Revenue grew 3.0% from the prior year: steady, modest expansion.

Change in annual revenue from the prior fiscal year: whether the top line is expanding. Above 10% is strong growth; below 0 means revenue is shrinking.

Net income grew 5.1% from the prior year: steady profit expansion.

Change in annual net income from the prior fiscal year: whether profit is expanding. Above 10% is strong; below 0 means profit is falling.