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If You Invested $1000 in Applied Industrial Technologies a Decade Ago, This is How Much It'd Be Worth Now

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For most investors, how much a stock's price changes over time is important. This factor can impact your investment portfolio as well as help you compare investment results across sectors and industries.

Another factor that can influence investors is FOMO, or the fear of missing out, especially with tech giants and popular consumer-facing stocks.

What if you'd invested in Applied Industrial Technologies (AIT - Free Report) ten years ago? It may not have been easy to hold on to AIT for all that time, but if you did, how much would your investment be worth today?

Applied Industrial Technologies' Business In-Depth

With that in mind, let's take a look at Applied Industrial Technologies' main business drivers.

Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. is a distributor of value-added industrial products — including engineered fluid power components, bearings, specialty flow control solutions, power transmission products and miscellaneous industrial supplies. These products are mainly sold to original equipment manufacturers (OEM) and maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) customers in Australia, North America, Singapore and New Zealand.

The company is also well known in the market for its engineering, design and systems integration services. Moreover, its inventory management solutions and maintenance training services boost the value of end users in the market. The company, founded in 1923, is currently headquartered in Cleveland, OH.

Applied Industrial has operations in the United States, Canada and other countries (Mexico, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore), generating 87.5%, 7.1%, and 5.4% of fiscal 2023 revenues, respectively. Exiting fiscal 2023, the company had an employee base of 6,200 people.

Applied Industrial reports revenues under two business segments. A brief discussion on the segments is provided below:

Service Center Based Distribution (67.2% of net revenues in fiscal 2023) segment offers different types of industrial products majorly through service centers in New Zealand, Australia and North America. Some of the products offered by the segment include like industrial bearings, motors, belting, drives, couplings and pumps.

This segment also provides services in the oil and gas industry as well as includes operations of fabricated rubber shops (regional) and rubber service field crews. Service offerings of Applied Maintenance Supplies & Solutions come under the ambit of this segment.

Engineered Solutions (formerly Fluid Power & Flow Control segment) (32.8%) segment includes specialized regional businesses that offer fluid power components, assembling and designing of fluid power systems, and provides equipment repairing services. These products and services are traded to the end-users directly in the absence of any service centers. In addition, the segment engages in the integration of flow control system, pump repair and others.

Bottom Line

While anyone can invest, building a lucrative investment portfolio takes research, patience, and a little bit of risk. If you had invested in Applied Industrial Technologies ten years ago, you're probably feeling pretty good about your investment today.

A $1000 investment made in May 2014 would be worth $3,969.78, or a 296.98% gain, as of May 30, 2024, according to our calculations. Investors should note that this return excludes dividends but includes price increases.

The S&P 500 rose 174.32% and the price of gold increased 79.49% over the same time frame in comparison.

Looking ahead, analysts are expecting more upside for AIT.

Applied Industrial is poised to benefit from an improving product line and value-added services. Strength across the food and beverage, lumber and wood, mining and refining end markets sparks optimism. An increase in demand for technical MRO support and fluid power MRO services across the U.S. manufacturing sector is aiding the Service Center Based Distribution segment. Acquired assets are driving the company’s top line. Focus on achieving margin synergies through pricing functions and freight savings augur well for the company. The company’s efforts to reward its shareholders add to its appeal. In January 2024, Applied Industrial hiked its dividend rate by 5.7%. However, weakness in the Engineered Solutions segment due to reduced shipment of off-highway mobile and fluid power components is affecting the company’s performance.

The stock has jumped 5.45% over the past four weeks. Additionally, no earnings estimate has gone lower in the past two months, compared to 1 higher, for fiscal 2024; the consensus estimate has moved up as well.

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