Expensive duds

It's been a great year for mid caps. The BSE MidCap index has surged 33 per cent in the last six months. It's not uncommon now to find stocks with valuations hitting triple digits. Not all of these high-flyers though are backed by sound earnings growth. Let's take a look at some of them. Linde India: Linde India, an industrial-gas supplier, is trading at a princely 308 times earnings. Over the last 12 months, it has seen its operating profit contract by 2 per cent, while revenue growth stood at close to 10 per cent. Linde is not a fast-money-earner either. Its operating profit compounded by 6.7 per cent in the five years ending 2015. Its investment in the Kalinganagar plant for Tata Steel is expected to improve performance going ahead. However, that does not justify its premium