Industrial and commercial distributor Global Industrial (NYSE: GIC) reported revenue ahead of Wall Street’s expectations in Q4 CY2025, with sales up 14.3% year on year to $345.6 million. Its GAAP profit of $0.38 per share was 18.8% above analysts’ consensus estimates.

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Company Overview

Formerly known as Systemax, Global Industrial (NYSE: GIC) distributes industrial and commercial products to businesses and institutions.

Revenue Growth

Examining a company’s long-term performance can provide clues about its quality. Any business can put up a good quarter or two, but many enduring ones grow for years. Regrettably, Global Industrial’s sales grew at a mediocre 6% compounded annual growth rate over the last five years. This was below our standard for the industrials sector and is a tough starting point for our analysis.

We at StockStory place the most emphasis on long-term growth, but within industrials, a half-decade historical view may miss cycles, industry trends, or a company capitalizing on catalysts such as a new contract win or a successful product line. Global Industrial’s recent performance shows its demand has slowed as its annualized revenue growth of 4% over the last two years was below its five-year trend. We’re wary when companies in the sector see decelerations in revenue growth, as it could signal changing consumer tastes aided by low switching costs.

This quarter, Global Industrial reported year-on-year revenue growth of 14.3%, and its $345.6 million of revenue exceeded Wall Street’s estimates by 6.4%.

Looking ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to grow 2.1% over the next 12 months, a slight deceleration versus the last two years. This projection doesn't excite us and suggests its products and services will face some demand challenges.

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Operating Margin

Operating margin is one of the best measures of profitability because it tells us how much money a company takes home after procuring and manufacturing its products, marketing and selling those products, and most importantly, keeping them relevant through research and development.

Global Industrial was profitable over the last five years but held back by its large cost base. Its average operating margin of 7.5% was weak for an industrials business. This result is surprising given its high gross margin as a starting point.

Looking at the trend in its profitability, Global Industrial’s operating margin decreased by 1.2 percentage points over the last five years. This raises questions about the company’s expense base because its revenue growth should have given it leverage on its fixed costs, resulting in better economies of scale and profitability. Global Industrial’s performance was poor no matter how you look at it - it shows that costs were rising and it couldn’t pass them onto its customers.

In Q4, Global Industrial generated an operating margin profit margin of 5.7%, in line with the same quarter last year. This indicates the company’s cost structure has recently been stable.

Earnings Per Share

Revenue trends explain a company’s historical growth, but the long-term change in earnings per share (EPS) points to the profitability of that growth – for example, a company could inflate its sales through excessive spending on advertising and promotions.

Global Industrial’s unimpressive 5.6% annual EPS growth over the last five years aligns with its revenue performance. This tells us it maintained its per-share profitability as it expanded.

Like with revenue, we analyze EPS over a more recent period because it can provide insight into an emerging theme or development for the business.

Global Industrial’s flat two-year EPS was subpar and lower than its 4% two-year revenue growth.

Diving into the nuances of Global Industrial’s earnings can give us a better understanding of its performance. While we mentioned earlier that Global Industrial’s operating margin was flat this quarter, a two-year view shows its margin has declined. This was the most relevant factor (aside from the revenue impact) behind its lower earnings; interest expenses and taxes can also affect EPS but don’t tell us as much about a company’s fundamentals.

In Q4, Global Industrial reported EPS of $0.38, up from $0.27 in the same quarter last year. This print easily cleared analysts’ estimates, and shareholders should be content with the results. Over the next 12 months, Wall Street expects Global Industrial’s full-year EPS of $1.86 to grow 7.5%.

Key Takeaways from Global Industrial’s Q4 Results

We were impressed by how significantly Global Industrial blew past analysts’ EBITDA expectations this quarter. We were also excited its revenue outperformed Wall Street’s estimates by a wide margin. Zooming out, we think this was a good print with some key areas of upside. The stock traded up 5.2% to $32.53 immediately after reporting.

Global Industrial had an encouraging quarter, but one earnings result doesn’t necessarily make the stock a buy. Let’s see if this is a good investment. The latest quarter does matter, but not nearly as much as longer-term fundamentals and valuation, when deciding if the stock is a buy. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here (it’s free).