Analyzing Gold.com (NYSE:GOLD) and Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT)

Gold.com (NYSE:GOLD) and Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk and dividends.

Dividends

Gold.com pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Applied Industrial Technologies pays an annual dividend of $2.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.6%. Gold.com pays out 27.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Applied Industrial Technologies pays out 18.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Applied Industrial Technologies has increased its dividend for 16 consecutive years.

Risk and Volatility

Gold.com has a beta of 0.56, indicating that its stock price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Applied Industrial Technologies has a beta of 0.83, indicating that its stock price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Gold.com and Applied Industrial Technologies’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Gold.com	0.32%	18.15%	3.97%
Applied Industrial Technologies	8.35%	22.17%	13.43%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Gold.com and Applied Industrial Technologies, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Gold.com	0	2	4	0	2.67
Applied Industrial Technologies	0	0	7	0	3.00

Gold.com presently has a consensus price target of $58.00, suggesting a potential upside of 17.21%. Applied Industrial Technologies has a consensus price target of $400.00, suggesting a potential upside of 23.18%. Given Applied Industrial Technologies’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Applied Industrial Technologies is more favorable than Gold.com.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

62.9% of Gold.com shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.5% of Applied Industrial Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. 0.6% of Gold.com shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.6% of Applied Industrial Technologies shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Gold.com and Applied Industrial Technologies”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Gold.com	$25.51 billion	0.06	$82.34 million	$2.92	16.95
Applied Industrial Technologies	$4.97 billion	2.40	$414.52 million	$10.96	29.63

Applied Industrial Technologies has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Gold.com. Gold.com is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Applied Industrial Technologies, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Applied Industrial Technologies beats Gold.com on 15 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Gold.com

Gold.com, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a precious metals company. It operates through three segments: Wholesale Sales & Ancillary Services, Direct-to-Consumer, and Secured Lending. The Wholesale Sales & Ancillary Services segment sells gold, silver, platinum, and palladium in the form of bars, plates, powders, wafers, grains, ingots, and coins. This segment also offers complementary services, such as receiving, handling, inventorying, processing, packing, and shipping of precious metals and custom coins on a secure basis; and designs and produces minted silver products. The Direct-to-Consumer segment provides access to gold, silver, copper, platinum, and palladium products primarily through its websites; rarities and numismatic collections; and numismatic and bullion products. It operates various websites targeting specific niches within the precious metals retail market. This segment also operates as a direct retailer of precious metals to the investor community and markets its precious metal products on television, radio, and the internet, as well as through customer service outreach. The Secured Lending segment originates and acquires commercial loans secured by bullion, numismatic coins, and graded sports cards. The company serves customers, including financial institutions, bullion retailers, industrial manufacturers and fabricators, sovereign mints, refiners, coin and metal dealers, investors, collectors, and e-commerce and other retail customers. It operates in the United States, Europe, Canada, Asia Pacific, Africa, Australia, and South America. The company was formerly known as A-Mark Precious Metals, Inc. and changed its name to Gold.com, Inc. in December 2025. The company was founded in 1965 and is headquartered in Costa Mesa, California.

About Applied Industrial Technologies

Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. distributes industrial motion, power, control, and automation technology solutions in North America, Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore. It operates in two segments, Service Center Based Distribution, and Engineered Solutions. The company distributes bearings, power transmission products, engineered fluid power components and systems, specialty flow control solutions, advanced automation products, industrial rubber products, linear motion components, automation solutions, tools, safety products, oilfield supplies, and other industrial and maintenance supplies; and motors, belting, drives, couplings, pumps, hydraulic and pneumatic components, filtration supplies, valves, fittings, process instrumentation, actuators, and hoses, filtration supplies, as well as other related supplies for general operational needs of customers' machinery and equipment. It also operates fabricated rubber shops and service field crews that install, modify, and repair conveyor belts and rubber linings, as well as offer hose assemblies. In addition, the company provides technical support services; engages in the distribution of fluid power and industrial flow control products; advanced automation solutions, including machine vision, robotics, motion control, and smart technologies. It distributes industrial products through a network of service centers. The company serves various industries, including agriculture and food processing, cement, chemicals and petrochemicals, fabricated metals, forest products, industrial machinery and equipment, life sciences, mining, oil and gas, primary metals, technology, transportation, and utilities, as well as government entities. The company was formerly known as Bearings, Inc. and changed its to name to Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. in 1997. The company was founded in 1923 and is headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio.