Shares of Ingersoll Rand Inc. IR rallied 3.6% in afternoon trading Tuesday, after the diversified industrial company became what many on Wall Street refer to as a “rising star,” as the company’s credit rating was upgraded out of “junk” territory at S&P Global Ratings. The credit rating was raised by one notch to BBB-, which is S&P’s lowest investment-grade rating, from BB+, while the outlook remained positive. “The contribution of recent acquisitions and our expectation for Ingersoll Rand to remain acquisitive should boost revenue growth to the 10% area this year, in our opinion,” S&P said. “Despite recent acquisitions and the initiation of shareholder returns, we expect leverage to remain very low relative to similarly rated peers.” The stock has advanced 5.9% over the past three months, while the S&P 500 SPX has tacked on 3.1%.
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