Critical Comparison: DNOW (NYSE:DNOW) versus Gold.com (NYSE:GOLD)

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for DNOW and Gold.com, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
DNOW	1	1	3	1	2.67
Gold.com	0	2	4	0	2.67

DNOW presently has a consensus target price of $18.25, suggesting a potential upside of 16.87%. Gold.com has a consensus target price of $59.75, suggesting a potential upside of 30.56%. Given Gold.com’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Gold.com is more favorable than DNOW.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

97.6% of DNOW shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 62.9% of Gold.com shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.9% of DNOW shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 23.1% of Gold.com shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares DNOW and Gold.com”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
DNOW	$2.82 billion	1.00	-$89.00 million	($1.07)	-14.59
Gold.com	$10.98 billion	0.12	$17.32 million	$2.92	15.67

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

Risk & Volatility

DNOW has a beta of 0.82, indicating that its share price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Gold.com has a beta of 0.54, indicating that its share price is 46% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares DNOW and Gold.com’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
DNOW	-4.58%	3.91%	2.25%
Gold.com	0.35%	17.82%	4.21%

Summary

Gold.com beats DNOW on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About DNOW

DNOW Inc. distributes downstream energy and industrial products for petroleum refining, chemical processing, LNG terminals, power generation utilities, and customer on-site locations in the United States, Canada, and internationally. The company provides consumable maintenance, repair, and operating supplies; pipes, manual and automated valves, fittings, flanges, gaskets, fasteners, electrical instrumentations, artificial lift, pumping solutions, valve actuation and modular process, and measurement and control equipment; and mill supplies, tools, safety supplies, and personal protective equipment, as well as artificial lift systems, coatings, and miscellaneous expendable items. It also offers original equipment manufacturer equipment, including pumps, generator sets, air compressors, dryers, blowers, mixers, and valves; modular oil and gas tank battery solutions; and application systems, work processes, parts integration, optimization solutions, and after-sales support services. In addition, the company provides supply chain and materials management; inventory planning and management, procurement, and warehouse management, as well as solutions for logistics, point of issue technology, project management, business process, and performance metrics reporting services. It serves customers in the upstream, midstream, and downstream sectors of the energy industry, including drilling contractors, well-servicing companies, independent and national oil and gas companies, midstream operators, and refineries, as well as petrochemical, chemical, utilities, RNG facilities, and other downstream energy processors; and industrial and manufacturing companies. The company was formerly known as NOW Inc. and changed its name to DNOW Inc. in January 2024. DNOW Inc. was founded in 1862 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

About Gold.com

A-Mark Precious Metals, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a precious metals trading company. It operates in 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 various ancillary services, including financing, storage, consignment, logistics, and various customized financial programs; and designs and produces minted silver products. The Direct-to-Consumer segment provides access to an array of gold, silver, copper, platinum, and palladium products through its websites and marketplaces. It operates five company-owned 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 and numismatic coins; and serves coin and precious metal dealers, investors, and collectors. 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 has operations in the United States, rest of North America, Europe, the Asia Pacific, Africa, and Australia. A-Mark Precious Metals, Inc. was founded in 1965 and is headquartered in El Segundo, California.