Applied Industrial Technologies is a high-quality industrial distribution franchise — earning a perfect 9-out-of-9 Piotroski financial health score and recognized as best-in-class among peers on margins — but the stock trades just 1.2% below its price target with a risk/reward ratio of 0.26-to-1 that is deeply unfavorable for new exposure. Falling on-balance volume and a 2.2x average-volume surge on a recent selloff day introduce a near-term distribution signal that adds caution to an otherwise sound fundamental picture.
Thesis pillars
- Stretched Valuation Unfavorable Risk Reward↓Deteriorating
- Piotroski Perfect Score Best In Class Margins→Stable
- Bearish Volume Distribution Signal→Stable
- +1 more pillar — see the Why tab for full reasoning
Applied Industrial Technologies (AIT) Stock Analysis
Industrials · Industrial Distribution
Sell if holding. At $333.39, A.R:R 0.7:1 is below the 1.5:1 minimum. Reward from here is too thin for a buy — the engine flags exit. Additional concerns: Thin upside margin: 4.4%; Concentration risk — Geographic: United States (88.0%).
Applied Industrial Technologies distributes industrial motion, power, control, and automation products through its Service Center (66% of fiscal 2025 sales) and Engineered Solutions (34%) segments across North America, Australia, and New Zealand. It sells over 9.2 million SKUs... Read more
Sell if holding. At $333.39, A.R:R 0.7:1 is below the 1.5:1 minimum. Reward from here is too thin for a buy — the engine flags exit. Additional concerns: Thin upside margin: 4.4%; Concentration risk — Geographic: United States (88.0%). Chart setup: No clear chart pattern; technical signals are mixed. Score 5.9/10, moderate confidence.
Passes 7/8 gates (positive momentum, clean insider activity, no SEC red flags, news events none recent, earnings proximity no date, semi cycle peak clear, materials cycle peak clear). Fails on favorable risk/reward ratio. Suitability: moderate.
About Applied Industrial Technologies
About Applied Industrial Technologies
Applied Industrial Technologies' Service Center segment generated 66% of fiscal 2025 sales through MRO-focused distribution, while its higher-margin Engineered Solutions segment, contributing over 40% of consolidated EBITDA on 34% of sales, provides fluid power, flow control, and automation engineering. The company employs approximately 6,800 associates across seven countries, with 88% of fiscal 2025 sales generated in the United States and the remainder split between Canada and other international markets.
Applied earns revenue by reselling more than 9.2 million SKUs — industrial bearings, power transmission products, fluid power components, and specialty flow control and automation equipment — sourced as a non-exclusive distributor from thousands of manufacturers, paired with value-added services such as inventory management, engineering, repair, and systems integration. Its Service Center network of roughly 430 local facilities handles break-fix MRO fulfillment close to customer plants, while its approximately 170 Engineered Solutions facilities perform more specialized fluid power, flow control, and automation design, assembly, and integration work, including for the U.S. build-out of datacenter and semiconductor infrastructure. The company's customer base spans thousands of accounts across industries such as food processing, chemicals, mining, and life sciences, with no single customer accounting for more than 5% of fiscal 2025 sales, and management points to industry consolidation and acquisitions as an ongoing growth lever given high market fragmentation.
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Despite Applied's broad diversification across customers, suppliers, and end markets, its revenue base is geographically concentrated: 88% of fiscal 2025 sales were generated in the United States, with Canada contributing 6% and the balance split among Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, and Costa Rica. That concentration ties Applied's results closely to U.S. industrial production, capacity utilization, and reshoring trends rather than to a globally diversified revenue base, meaning a U.S.-specific manufacturing slowdown would weigh disproportionately on results relative to a multinational industrial distributor with a larger non-U.S. footprint.
See also: Industrials · Industrial Distribution
From Applied Industrial Technologies's most recent 10-K filing, extracted August 30, 2026.
Recent developments
updated 2026-09-26Recent Developments — Applied Industrial Technologies
Latest news
- NEWS Here’s How Much You Would Have Made Owning Applied Industrial Techs Stock In The Last 5 Years - Sahm — Sahm positive
- NEWS AIT Corp Sees FY Net Y3.39B - Moomoo — Moomoo positive
- NEWS Tema ETFs LLC Acquires 8,920 Shares of Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. $AIT - MarketBeat — MarketBeat neutral
- NEWS Applied Industrial Technologies stock slips after quarterly growth - AD HOC NEWS — AD HOC NEWS neutral
- NEWS What is Zacks Research's Forecast for AIT FY2028 Earnings? - MarketBeat — MarketBeat positive
Generated 2026-09-26T01:36:56Z.
Upcoming dated catalysts
Thesis
Key Metrics
Quality Signals
Options Flow
Concentration Risks(10-K Item 1A)
- HIGHGeographicUnited States88%10-K Item 1: 'Our operations are primarily based in the United States where 88% of our fiscal 2025 sales were generated.'
Model-generated analysis — not investment advice. Not a registered investment advisor. Past performance does not guarantee future results.
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Rating Breakdown
1 floor-breaker
Technicals below the gate floor. Component breakdown shows what dragged the score down.static
Price Targets
Position Sizing
Risk Alerts
Earnings
Verdict History
Frequently Asked Questions
Sell if holding. At $333.39, A.R:R 0.7:1 is below the 1.5:1 minimum. Reward from here is too thin for a buy — the engine flags exit. Additional concerns: Thin upside margin: 4.4%; Concentration risk — Geographic: United States (88.0%). Chart setup: No clear chart pattern; technical signals are mixed. Prior stop was $319.03. Score 5.9/10, moderate confidence.
Take-profit target: $348.00 (+4.4% upside). Prior stop was $319.03. Stop-loss: $319.03.
Concentration risk — Geographic: United States (88.0%); Thin upside margin: 4.4%; Sector modifier (Industrials): -0.7.
Applied Industrial Technologies trades at a P/E of 30.3 (forward 25.1). TrendMatrix value score: 4.5/10. Verdict: Sell.
13 analysts cover AIT with a consensus score of 4.1/5. Average price target: $400.
What does Applied Industrial Technologies do?Applied Industrial Technologies distributes industrial motion, power, control, and automation products through its...
Applied Industrial Technologies distributes industrial motion, power, control, and automation products through its Service Center (66% of fiscal 2025 sales) and Engineered Solutions (34%) segments across North America, Australia, and New Zealand. It sells over 9.2 million SKUs via roughly 600 facilities and 6,800 employees; 88% of fiscal 2025 sales came from the United States, with no single customer exceeding 5% of sales.