Financial Review: Gold.com (NYSE:GOLD) & MSC Industrial Direct (NYSE:MSM)

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

Risk and Volatility

MSC Industrial Direct 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 0.71, indicating that its share price is 29% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares MSC Industrial Direct and Gold.com”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
MSC Industrial Direct	$3.77 billion	1.91	$199.33 million	$4.14	31.09
Gold.com	$25.51 billion	0.05	$82.34 million	$2.92	14.16

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for MSC Industrial Direct and Gold.com, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
MSC Industrial Direct	0	4	4	0	2.50
Gold.com	0	2	4	0	2.67

MSC Industrial Direct currently has a consensus price target of $123.43, suggesting a potential downside of 4.12%. Gold.com has a consensus price target of $58.00, suggesting a potential upside of 40.25%. Given Gold.com’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Gold.com is more favorable than MSC Industrial Direct.

Dividends

MSC Industrial Direct pays an annual dividend of $3.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Gold.com pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. MSC Industrial Direct pays out 84.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Gold.com pays out 27.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. MSC Industrial Direct has increased its dividend for 3 consecutive years. MSC Industrial Direct is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

79.3% of MSC Industrial Direct shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 62.9% of Gold.com shares are owned by institutional investors. 19.0% of MSC Industrial Direct shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 16.5% of Gold.com shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
MSC Industrial Direct	5.91%	17.34%	9.79%
Gold.com	0.32%	17.22%	3.81%

Summary

MSC Industrial Direct beats Gold.com on 12 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About MSC Industrial Direct

MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc., together with its subsidiaries, distributes metalworking and maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) products and services in the United States, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and internationally. The company's MRO products include cutting tools, measuring instruments, tooling components, metalworking products, fasteners, flat stock products, raw materials, abrasives, machinery hand and power tools, safety and janitorial supplies, plumbing supplies, materials handling products, power transmission components, and electrical supplies. It offers stock-keeping units through its catalogs and brochures; e-commerce channels, including its website, mscdirect.com; inventory management solutions; and customer care centers, customer fulfillment centers, regional inventory centers, and warehouses. The company serves individual machine shops, manufacturing companies, and government agencies. MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. was founded in 1941 and is headquartered in Melville, New York.

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.