Watsco (NYSE:WSO – Get Free Report) and Gold.com (NYSE:GOLD – Get Free Report) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, earnings and dividends.
Insider & Institutional Ownership
89.7% of Watsco shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 62.9% of Gold.com shares are held by institutional investors. 12.9% of Watsco shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 16.5% of Gold.com shares are held 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.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Watsco and Gold.com, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Watsco | 0 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 2.20 |
| Gold.com | 0 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 2.67 |
Watsco currently has a consensus price target of $373.62, indicating a potential upside of 17.84%. Gold.com has a consensus price target of $58.00, indicating a potential upside of 50.98%. Given Gold.com’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Gold.com is more favorable than Watsco.
Dividends
Watsco pays an annual dividend of $13.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.2%. Gold.com pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. Watsco pays out 116.6% 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 26.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Watsco has raised its dividend for 13 consecutive years. Watsco is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
Profitability
This table compares Watsco and Gold.com’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Watsco | 6.31% | 13.97% | 9.69% |
| Gold.com | 0.34% | 17.42% | 3.67% |
Risk & Volatility
Watsco has a beta of 1.03, meaning that its stock price is 3% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Gold.com has a beta of 0.63, meaning that its stock price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Valuation and Earnings
This table compares Watsco and Gold.com”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Watsco | $7.24 billion | 1.81 | $496.99 million | $11.32 | 28.01 |
| Gold.com | $25.51 billion | 0.04 | $82.34 million | $3.01 | 12.76 |
Watsco has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Gold.com. Gold.com is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Watsco, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
Watsco beats Gold.com on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Watsco
Watsco, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the distribution of air conditioning, heating, refrigeration equipment, and related parts and supplies in the United States and internationally. The company distributes equipment, including residential ducted and ductless air conditioners, such as gas, electric, and oil furnaces; commercial air conditioning and heating equipment systems; and other specialized equipment. It also offers parts comprising replacement compressors, evaporator coils, motors, and other component parts; and supplies, such as thermostats, insulation materials, refrigerants, ductworks, grills, registers, sheet metals, tools, copper tubing, concrete pads, tapes, adhesives, and other ancillary supplies, as well as plumbing and bathroom remodeling supplies. The company serves contractors and dealers that service the replacement and new construction markets for residential and light commercial central air conditioning, heating, and refrigeration systems. Watsco, Inc. was incorporated in 1956 and is headquartered in Miami, Florida.
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.
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