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Japan's second-largest industrial gas producer, diversified into medical, agriculture, chemicals and energy.
Japan's second-largest industrial gas producer, diversified into medical, agriculture, chemicals and energy.
Sells gases mostly through on-site plants built next to big users such as steel works and chip factories, under long-term supply contracts, plus bottled and liquid gas through local distributors. It has used the gas business as a base to enter medical equipment, agricultural and food products and LP gas, making it a broader group than a pure gas supplier.
In one line: A diversified Japanese Air Products/Linde.
Moat: narrow (scale, distribution, installed base). Nationwide gas-production and distribution infrastructure with long-term plant supply contracts.
Headquarters: Osaka, Japan · Founded: 1929 · Employees: 21,824
Size Air Water (4088.T) is a Japan Materials company (Chemicals: Specialty) with a market value of $3.93B, the 291st largest of 1,379 Japan companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at ¥2,739 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares gained 23.5%, against -21.8% for the median peer and +1.8% for the Japan market (cap-weighted) — 2nd highest of 20 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue grew 6.8% over the last twelve months (peer median +13.9%); the operating margin is 4.4% (peer median 13.3%).
Valuation It trades at 14.3× forward earnings against a peer median of 18.4× (8th cheapest of 21).
Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about 7% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +7%, so the hurdle is +0 pp: the price needs faster growth than the company has been delivering — of companies that just grew 25–50% a year, 93.8% slowed down over the next four years.
Capital Return on invested capital runs 1.2 points below its cost of capital (5.0% WACC).
Next results Next results expected around 10 Feb 2027 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | ¥1.08T | ¥1.07T | ¥1.01T | ¥966B | ¥954B |
| Revenue growth | — | +5% | +5% | +1% | — |
| Gross profit | ¥244B | ¥218B | ¥206B | ¥200B | ¥148B |
| EBITDA | ¥104B | ¥95.8B | ¥103B | ¥101B | ¥56.5B |
| Net income | -¥61.2B | -¥64.0B | ¥39.9B | ¥36.6B | ¥9.27B |
| Free cash flow | ¥36.4B | ¥36.4B | ¥26.3B | ¥17.2B | -¥10.0B |
| Capital expenditure | ¥73.3B | ¥73.3B | ¥69.9B | ¥64.2B | ¥70.5B |
| Total debt | ¥516B | ¥516B | ¥465B | ¥463B | ¥423B |
The default views of Competitor Analysis ▸ Charts, drawn from the same data. Open them in the cockpit to change the axes, pin companies and read every value.
| Company | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Air Water 4088.T | $3.93B | +23% | +7% | 4% | 14.3× | 7.1% |
| Nippon Sanso 4091.T | $15.3B | +1% | +10% | 15% | 16.9× | 7.8% |
| Air Products APD | $67.9B | +4% | +5% | 24% | 21.2× | n/a |
| Linde LIN | $237B | +5% | +8% | 27% | 27.0× | 14.4% |
Peer set: Industry: the same industry and sector in any market, nearest in size. This is the same default set the interactive Competitor Analysis opens with.
| Measure | 4088.T | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | -5.1% | -5.6% | 10th highest of 21 |
| 6-month return | +23.5% | -21.8% | 2nd highest of 20 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -14.8% | -40.4% | 3rd highest of 21 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | +6.8% | +13.9% | 8th lowest of 21 |
| Operating margin | 4.4% | 13.3% | 2nd lowest of 21 |
| Forward P/E | 14.3× | 18.4× | 8th cheapest of 21 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | 7.1% | 5.3% | 7th most demanding of 16 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +6.8% | +16.5% | 5th lowest of 16 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | +0.2 pp | -5.7 pp | 6th most demanding of 16 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | -1.2 pp | +1.6 pp | 8th lowest of 21 |
| EV / EBITDA | 10.3× | 7.6× | most expensive of 6 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 4.1× | 1.5× | 2nd most indebted of 6 |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Air Water 4088.T | Japan | $3.93B | +23% | +7% | 4% | 14.3× | 7.1% | +6.8% |
| IMEIK Technology Development 300896.SZ | China | $3.92B | -21% | -7% | 45% | 23.3× | 18.8% | +28.0% |
| Hangzhou Oxygen Plant 002430.SZ | China | $3.89B | -16% | +16% | 11% | 20.9× | 2.9% | +8.5% |
| Bluestar Adisseo 600299.SS | China | $3.97B | -35% | +15% | 13% | 11.8× | -8.6% | +7.7% |
| Pangang Group Vanadium & Titanium Resources 000629.SZ | China | $3.83B | -24% | +6% | 4% | 68.8× | 27.2% | -3.4% |
| Do-Fluoride New Materials 002407.SZ | China | $4.06B | -36% | +69% | 7% | 38.0× | 19.2% | +17.5% |
| Mitsubishi Gas Chemical 4182.T | Japan | $3.78B | -31% | +3% | 8% | 10.6× | n/a | n/a |
| Novoray 688300.SS | China | $3.76B | -9% | +23% | 26% | 52.7× | 47.6% | +22.6% |
| Ningbo Shanshan 600884.SS | China | $3.71B | -34% | +30% | 9% | 14.4× | 4.5% | +21.3% |
| Cabot CBT | United States | $3.67B | -17% | +1% | 14% | 10.9× | -3.2% | +1.9% |
| Cathay Biotech 688065.SS | China | $4.22B | -19% | +9% | 18% | 38.8× | n/a | n/a |
| NOF 4403.T | Japan | $3.60B | -22% | +13% | 17% | 13.5× | -6.1% | +8.4% |
| Jiangsu Nata Opto-electronic Material 300346.SZ | China | $4.29B | -22% | +15% | 16% | 62.1× | 35.6% | +34.2% |
| Clariant CLN.SW | Switzerland | $4.32B | +46% | -7% | 10% | 16.0× | -3.4% | +0.3% |
| Guangxi Huaxi Nonferrous Metal 600301.SS | China | $4.33B | -15% | +24% | 32% | 22.9× | 9.2% | +44.9% |
| Red Avenue New Materials 9607.HK | Hong Kong | $4.35B | n/a | +30% | 9% | 26.9× | n/a | n/a |
| GEM 002340.SZ | China | $4.43B | -36% | +2% | 7% | 15.7× | 4.2% | +24.4% |
| Far Eastern New Century 1402.TW | Taiwan | $4.49B | +8% | 0% | 6% | 11.8× | 5.3% | +4.2% |
| Guangzhou Guanggang Gases and Energy 688548.SS | China | $3.39B | -14% | +21% | 20% | 62.3× | n/a | n/a |
| Inner Mongolia Berun Chemical 000683.SZ | China | $3.36B | -32% | +11% | 13% | 13.8× | n/a | n/a |
| Zhejiang Sanmei Chemical Industry 603379.SS | China | $4.64B | -22% | +24% | 41% | 13.5× | 5.4% | +16.5% |