Global Industrial Co GIC
Global Industrial trades at 17.4x P/E versus a peer median of 23.8x, a discount that reflects genuine earnings-quality concerns: Q2 2026 EPS of $0.54 was down from $0.65 a year ago, and reported net income benefited from a $26.2M IEEPA tariff refund, meaning adjusted EPS actually declined year-over-year. The fundamental picture is improving — gross margin expanded to 40.2% in Q2 2026 from 37.1% a year earlier, and revenue grew 7.7% to $386.6M — but operating cost growth is outpacing gross profit gains, and the stock has already rallied to $38.88, above both the 50-day MA of $34.99 and the 200-day MA of $31.69.
With RSI at 65.0 and MACD histogram turning negative, momentum is cooling after the post-earnings pop, and the valuation discount is justified until earnings leverage materializes without tariff-related one-timers.
What could go wrong
- Earnings quality. Q2 2026 reported results benefited from a $26.2M IEEPA tariff refund; adjusted EPS of $0.54 declined from $0.65 a year ago, raising questions about underlying earnings power.
- Margin compression. Full-year 2025 operating margin of 7.1% remains below the 2023 level of 7.6% and well below the 2022 level of 9.0%, indicating persistent cost pressure despite gross margin improvement.
- Insider selling. Over the trailing 24 months, insider transactions show net dispositions of 99 sales versus 74 acquisitions, with net value of approximately -$2.0M, and the CFO sold 17,500 shares at $39.14 on 2026-08-06.
- Valuation re-rating risk. Stock at $38.88 trades above both the 50-day MA ($34.99) and 200-day MA ($31.69), with RSI at 65.0, suggesting much of the recent improvement is already priced in.
What would change my mind
Where this comes from: peer_relative · news (Zacks, 2026-08-04) · news (MarketBeat, 2026-08-05) · news (Business Wire, 2026-08-04). Orin's read on GIC; not advice.
Twelve months actual closes to 2026-09-24 · actual filings
50-day average 200-day average · volume below
On file
All GIC filingsLargest holders · 13F Q2 2026
Money flow| Filer | Position | Of fund |
|---|---|---|
| Fmr | $107.0M | 0.0% of fund |
| Vanguard Capital Management | $20.3M | 0.0% of fund |
| Geode Capital Management | $16.7M | 0.0% of fund |
| State Street | $11.6M | 0.0% of fund |
| Bank of New York Mellon | $10.5M | 0.0% of fund |
| Morgan Stanley | $7.5M | 0.0% of fund |
49 filers · quarter ended Q2 2026 · positions, not flows
Insiders, last 24 months: 171 Form 4 filings, net −$3.1M. Of the 50 on hand, 1 was an open-market purchase and 15 sales— the rest are grants, option exercises and tax withholding.
Ask Orin about GIC
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Start 3 free days →Where it trades
| Metric | Now | Own median | Sector |
|---|---|---|---|
| P/E | 18.4× | — | 44.5× |
| EV/EBITDA | 12.9× | — | — |
| P/S | 1.10× | — | — |
| P/B | 4.6× | — | — |
8.5%
free-cash-flow growth every year for 10 years, discounted at 10%, is what today’s price implies — starting from $0.1B of trailing free cash flow. It is an assumption the market is making, not a forecast Orin is making.
Against the companies it is compared to
| Company | Market cap | P/E | EV/EBITDA | Gross | Net | ROE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GICGlobal Industrial Co | $2B | 18.4× | 12.9× | 36.4% | 6.1% | 27% |
| BBSIBarrett Business Services, Inc. | $776M | 22.7× | 11.2× | 19.8% | 2.8% | 16% |
| GRCThe Gorman-Rupp Company | $2B | 31.6× | 16.9× | 30.6% | 8.9% | 15% |
| LMBLimbach Holdings, Inc. | $612M | 19.8× | 11.0× | 23.6% | 4.4% | 16% |
The median is of the 3 peers listed above and nothing else — check it against the column. This company trades 19.0% below it. The peer set is the vendor’s, so a company can appear here that a person would not have chosen.
What it has traded at
What its sector has traded at
Two scales, drawn separately on purpose: a sector median and one company’s multiple are not the same number and putting them on one axis invites a comparison neither series supports.
Every estimate on one scale
The vertical rule is the current price. Ranges and point estimates are the backend’s, published as they were calculated; an arrow means the estimate sits beyond this scale, and its number is on the right.