AIT Gears Up to Post Q4 Earnings: What Lies Ahead for the Stock?

Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. AIT is scheduled to release fourth-quarter fiscal 2025 (ended June 2025) results on Aug. 14, before market open.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fiscal fourth-quarter earnings has remained steady in the past 60 days. The company has an impressive earnings surprise history, having beat the consensus estimate in each of the preceding four quarters, the average surprise being 6.2%.

The consensus estimate for revenues is pegged at $1.18 billion, indicating an increase of 1.7% from the year-ago quarter’s figure. However, the consensus estimate for adjusted earnings is pinned at $2.60 per share, indicating a decrease of 1.5% from the year-ago quarter’s figure.

Let's see how things have shaped up for AIT this earnings season.

Factors to Note

Solid momentum in the technology-related fluid power end market is likely to have supported the Engineered Solutions segment. Favorable order trends across automation, technology, mobile and industrial verticals are likely to have aided the segment’s revenues. We expect the segment’s revenues to be $382.1 million, implying an increase of 3.5% from the year-ago number.

Focus on improving the product line, value-added services and initiatives to drive operational excellence are expected to have driven AIT’s top line. Also, the company’s investments to expand automation, industrial Internet of Things and digital offerings like smart vision and mobile robots are likely to have been advantageous.

Synergistic gains from the acquisitions made by the company are expected to have boosted revenues. The May 2024 acquisition of Grupo Kopar, which expanded its automation platform and extended its footprint into Mexico, is expected to have bolstered AIT’s top-line performance. 

However, AIT is expected to have put up a weak show across the Service Center Based Distribution segment due to reduced maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) spending, lower capital maintenance projects and prolonged customer plant shutdowns.

Rising selling, distribution and administrative expenses, due to higher costs associated with acquired businesses, are likely to have dented Applied Industrial’s margins and profitability. For the quarter under review, we anticipate Applied Industrial’s gross margin to be 30.4%, indicating a decline of 30 basis points on a year-over-year basis.

Earnings Whispers

Our proven model does not conclusively predict an earnings beat for AIT this time around. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the odds of an earnings beat, which is not the case here, as elaborated below.

Earnings ESP: Applied Industrial has an Earnings ESP of 0.00% as both the Most Accurate Estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate are pegged at $2.60. You can uncover the best stocks before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Zacks Rank: Applied Industrial presently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Performance of Other Companies

Dover Corporation DOV reported earnings of $2.44 per share in second-quarter 2025, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.39. This compares with earnings of $2.36 per share a year ago.

Dover posted revenues of $2.05 billion in the quarter, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 0.6%. This compares with year-ago revenues of $2.18 billion.

Teck Resources Limited TECK came out with earnings of $0.27 per share in the second quarter of 2025, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.2. This compares with earnings of $0.58 per share a year ago.

Teck Resources posted revenues of $1.46 billion in the quarter, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 8.7%. This compares with year-ago revenues of $2.83 billion. 

Packaging Corporation of America PKG reported earnings of $2.48 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.44. This compares with earnings of $2.2 per share a year ago.

Packaging Corp. posted revenues of $2.17 billion in the quarter, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 0.5%. This compares with year-ago revenues of $2.08 billion.
 

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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