Teleconferência de resultados do 1T fiscal de 2027 da Gold:com (GOLD): lucro bruto sobe 23%

Principais destaques

• A Gold.com reportou receita de US$ 3,265 bilhões no primeiro trimestre fiscal de 2027, uma queda de 11% em relação ao ano anterior. Excluindo uma redução de US$ 1,368 bilhão em vendas a termo utilizadas para hedge, a receita aumentou US$ 953 milhões, ou 51%.
• O lucro bruto subiu 23%, para US$ 89,6 milhões, enquanto a margem bruta expandiu de 1,98% para 2,74%. O maior lucro bruto no atacado e no canal direto ao consumidor (DTC), incluindo as contribuições da Monex e da Sunshine Minting, impulsionou o avanço.
• O lucro líquido atribuível à Gold.com foi de US$ 1,6 milhão, ou US$ 0,05 por ação diluída, em comparação com um prejuízo líquido de US$ 0,9 milhão, ou US$ 0,04 por ação diluída, registrado um ano antes.
• As vendas de ouro aumentaram 5% em relação ao ano anterior, para 463.000 onças, enquanto as vendas de prata subiram 35%, para 14 milhões de onças. Ambos os volumes recuaram na comparação trimestral diante da desaceleração da atividade no mercado de metais preciosos.
• O número de novos clientes no canal direto ao consumidor aumentou 38% em relação ao ano anterior e 42% frente ao trimestre anterior, alcançando 96.100. A base total de clientes DTC atingiu cerca de 4,8 milhões, uma alta de 13% na comparação anual.
• O CEO Greg Roberts afirmou que a meta da companhia é gerar lucro sob os padrões GAAP em todos os trimestres, sustentada por fontes de receita mais diversificadas, sinergias de aquisições e uma plataforma verticalmente integrada. Trata-se de um objetivo interno da administração, e não de um guidance formal de resultados.

Principais dados financeiros

Desempenho operacional e dos negócios

O lucro bruto no atacado beneficiou-se de spreads de prêmio mais atrativos e de maiores volumes em onças vendidos para grandes varejistas e clientes institucionais. A administração informou que algumas margens foram comprimidas para garantir vendas em um mercado com atividade geral reduzida.

A Gold.com vendeu 463.000 onças de ouro, alta de 5% em relação ao ano anterior, mas recuo de 11% frente ao trimestre anterior. O volume de prata alcançou 14 milhões de onças, um avanço de 35% na comparação anual e queda de 9% na comparação sequencial.

A companhia passou a reportar Cunhagem e Refino como um segmento separado. Durante o trimestre, foram cunhadas cerca de 9 milhões de onças de prata e 26.000 onças de ouro, enquanto a taxa de utilização da capacidade de refino foi de aproximadamente 65%. A administração destacou o nível de utilização da capacidade e os prêmios dos produtos como indicadores operacionais fundamentais para a divisão. A integração da Sunshine Minting e da Silver Towne Mint segue em andamento sob gestão unificada.

O volume de transações no canal DTC aumentou 21% em relação ao ano anterior, para cerca de 273.000 pedidos. O tíquete médio recuou 10%, para US$ 3.482, embora o tíquete médio da JM Bullion tenha avançado 16%, para US$ 2.943. A expansão da base de clientes refletiu a aquisição da Monex em janeiro de 2026 e a demanda constante na JM Bullion.

A carteira de empréstimos com garantia somou US$ 107 milhões, uma alta de 4% na comparação anual, mas recuo de 7% em relação a junho de 2026. O total de empréstimos garantidos concedidos foi de 372 contratos, representando uma baixa de 12% em base anual e alta de 1% frente ao trimestre imediatamente anterior.

A Gold.com distribuiu um dividendo trimestral ordinário de US$ 0,20 por ação e um dividendo especial não recorrente de US$ 1 por ação no trimestre, totalizando US$ 35,1 milhões. Subsequentemente, o conselho de administração declarou outro dividendo trimestral de US$ 0,20 por ação, a ser pago em 2 de dezembro de 2026 aos acionistas posicionados em 19 de novembro de 2026.

Riscos e áreas de foco

A administração qualificou o trimestre como um dos períodos operacionais mais desafiadores e lentos já vivenciados no segmento de metais preciosos. Juros elevados, conflitos geopolíticos, incertezas em torno de eleições e preocupações inflacionárias atreladas aos preços de energia pesaram sobre a atividade do mercado.

Volumes mais fracos no setor reduziram as margens disponíveis, mesmo com a Gold.com mantendo ou expandindo sua fatia de mercado em determinados segmentos. A administração destacou ainda que a rentabilidade das operações de cunhagem é altamente sensível à utilização da capacidade, uma vez que as instalações exigem um nível mínimo de operação para cobrir custos de manutenção.

As recentes desvalorizações nos preços à vista (spot) do ouro e da prata reduziram as recompras de clientes como proporção das vendas de novos produtos. Em contrapartida, preços spot mais baixos exigem menos capital de giro para o financiamento de estoques, o que favorece a liquidez, segundo os executivos.

A integração das aquisições permanece como prioridade estratégica de execução. A companhia busca capturar eficiências de custos e sinergias operacionais com a Monex, a Sunshine Minting e sua infraestrutura ampliada, embora não tenha divulgado metas financeiras ou prazos formalmente quantificados.

Destaques da sessão de perguntas e respostas com analistas

• Rentabilidade em mercados mais fracos: Roberts afirmou que a Gold.com tem como objetivo registrar lucro sob as normas GAAP em todos os trimestres. Ele atribuiu o resultado positivo mais recente à diversificação das linhas de receita, às aquisições e aos ganhos de integração, reconhecendo ao mesmo tempo que a atividade desacelerada no mercado como um todo pressionou os volumes e as margens.
• Estratégia de M&A: A diretoria declarou possuir um pipeline robusto de aquisições e prevê que as movimentações de curto prazo se concentrem principalmente na expansão das operações essenciais de metais preciosos da Gold.com. Nenhuma aquisição relevante no segmento de colecionáveis é esperada para os próximos trimestres.
• Dinâmica econômica da cunhagem: A utilização da capacidade instalada, os prêmios cobrados e a demanda foram identificados como as métricas operacionais mais relevantes. Segundo a administração, o potencial de rentabilidade pode se tornar substancial caso as unidades fabris voltem a operar em ritmo contínuo e com alta ocupação da capacidade.
• Comportamento dos prêmios: Os prêmios registraram ligeira alta ou estabilidade nos últimos 60 dias, mesmo diante de uma demanda mais moderada. A administração enxergou essa sustentação com otimismo, mas ponderou que não foram observadas compras motivadas por pânico ou corridas generalizadas pelos produtos.
• Relação com a Tether e contratos de arrendamento: A administração classificou a parceria como positiva e reiterou que segue colaborando com a Tether em diversas frentes. Os arrendamentos vinculados à Tether foram reduzidos para aproximadamente US$ 700 milhões, enquanto o volume total de contratos de leasing girava em torno da faixa de US$ 800 milhões no final do trimestre, segundo projeções internas. A redução decorreu de menores necessidades de capital, e não de qualquer desgaste na parceria.
• Liquidez e alocação de capital: A Gold.com não registrou saques em sua linha de crédito comercial rotativa não compromissada de US$ 250 milhões no encerramento do trimestre. A administração ressaltou que os níveis de liquidez permanecem confortáveis para a sustentação de estoques, abatimento de dívidas, remuneração aos acionistas via dividendos e recompras, além de operações de M&A.

Transcrição completa da teleconferência de resultados

Transcrição completa da teleconferência de resultados

Comentários da administração

Operator

Good afternoon, and welcome to Gold.com's conference call for the fiscal first quarter ended September 30, 2026. My name is Tom, and I will be your operator this afternoon. Before this call, Gold.com issued its results for the fiscal first quarter 2027 in a press release, which is available in the Investor Relations section of the company's website at www.gold.com. You can find the link to the Investor Relations section at the top of the homepage. Joining us for today's call are Gold.com's CEO, Greg Roberts; and CFO, Jill Van.

Following their remarks, we will open the call to your questions. Then before we conclude the call, I will provide the necessary cautions regarding the forward-looking statements made by management during the call. I would like to remind everyone that this call is being recorded and will be made available for replay via a link on the Investor Relations section of the Gold.com's website. Now I would like to turn the call over to Gold.com's CEO, Mr. Greg Roberts. Sir, please proceed.

Gregory Roberts

Thank you, and good afternoon to everyone. I appreciate you joining our call today. Our fiscal 2027 first quarter results reflect the resilience of our fully integrated platform in a slower market environment. Following the exceptional levels of activity we experienced during the second half of fiscal 2026, activity moderated from Q4 but was higher than a year ago and profitability improved materially. Conditions across the precious metals market were subdued during Q1, reflecting a tough macro backdrop that included rising interest rates, uncertainty ahead of the U.S. midterm elections, geopolitical conflicts and inflationary concerns stemming from high energy prices and activity cooled from the exceptional pace we saw in the first quarter of calendar '26.

Even so, we sold more gold and silver and added more customers than we did a year ago. Revenues were $3.3 billion, and excluding forward sales we used to hedge, they were up more than 50% from a year ago. Gross profit rose 23%, and we reported net income of $1.6 million or $0.05 per diluted share compared with a loss in the year ago quarter. The improvement reflects the scale and breadth of the platform we have built. Wholesale trading, direct-to-consumer, lending, storage and now minting and refining work together, giving us more ways to drive earnings under most conditions. We have seen this market behavior before. A year ago, activity moderated in much the same way, and we reported a small loss. Within a couple of quarters, precious metals were heading toward historically high levels, and we delivered exceptional results.

This year, a similar type of environment produced a profit and a meaningful increase in adjusted earnings. We cannot predict the next move in the market, but we are positioned to deliver in any environment. And our goal is smoother, more consistent, sustainable profitability through the cycle. In our direct-to-consumer segment, gross profit growth was driven by a larger customer base, including the addition of Monex, and higher average order values at JM Bullion. In wholesale, gross profit increased on stronger premium spreads and higher ounces sold, reflecting our work with major retailers and institutional customers.

Even as transaction volumes were lower, we are continuing to expand at LPM in Hong Kong and Singapore and through Sunshine Mint joint venture in Shanghai. We are seeing continued progress from our partnership with Tether across storage, trading and metal leasing. Secured lending delivered higher interest income on larger average balances and improved profitability. Alongside storage, lending deepens customer relationships across a platform that spans the precious metals value chain. Acquisitions remain central to our strategy. This quarter, we began reporting Minting and Refining as its own segment, combining the Silver Towne Mint with Sunshine Mint, which we acquired in April, enabling greater control over product availability, pricing and stability across our supply chain.

Together, they give us added capacity, a stronger position with sovereign mint programs, such as the U.S. Mint, and modern facilities for developing our own products for our customers and brands. Operations across these businesses are running well and automation is accelerating, including full automation for several major customers. Integration is moving forward, as these operations come together over the coming quarters, we see meaningful synergies ahead. We remain focused on driving synergies across our business units and maximizing efficiencies at every level. We are operating from a position of strength, continuing to allocate capital efficiently to build and invest in our platform and open new channels for growth.

We remain confident in our direction, the long-term fundamentals of our industry and creating lasting value for shareholders. With that, I will turn the call over to our Chief Financial Officer, Jill Van, who will provide an overview of our financial performance. I will then return with some closing remarks and take your questions. Jill?

Jill Van

Thank you, Greg, and good afternoon, everyone. Our revenues for fiscal Q1 2027 decreased 11% to $3.265 billion from $3.681 billion in Q1 of last year. Excluding a decrease of $1.368 billion of forward sales, our revenues increased $0.953 billion or 51%, which was due to higher average selling prices of gold and silver as well as an increase in gold and silver ounces sold. Revenues also increased due to acquisitions of Monex in January 2026 and Sunshine Minting in April 2026, whose results were not included in the same year ago period. Gross profit for fiscal Q1 2027 increased 23% to $89.6 million or 2.74% of revenue from $72.9 million or 1.98% of revenue in Q1 of last year. The increase was due to an increase in gross profits earned by both the Wholesale and Ancillary Services segment and the direct-to-consumer segment, including the acquisitions of Monex and Sunshine Minting, whose results were not included in the same year ago period.

SG&A expenses for fiscal Q1 2027 increased 19% to $71.2 million from $59.8 million in Q1 of last year. The change was primarily due to an increase in compensation expense of $6.7 million, higher advertising costs of $2.4 million, increased insurance costs of $0.7 million and an increase in facilities expense of $0.6 million. SG&A expenses for the 3 months ended September 30, 2026, included $5.2 million of expenses from Monex and Sunshine Minting, whose results were not included or were not fully included in the same year ago period. Excluding the increase from these newly acquired subsidiaries, SG&A increased $6.2 million year-over-year. Depreciation and amortization expense for fiscal Q1 2027 increased 20% to $9.1 million from $7.6 million in the same year ago quarter. The change was primarily due to a $0.8 million increase in depreciation expense resulting from higher capital expenditures and a $0.7 million increase in amortization expense.

Interest income for fiscal Q1 2027 increased 13% to $6.3 million from $5.6 million in the same year ago quarter. The increase was primarily due to an increase in interest income earned by our direct-to-consumer segment of $0.7 million. Interest expense for fiscal Q1 2027 decreased 1% to $12.5 million from $12.6 million in Q1 last year. The decrease was primarily due to a decrease of $5.8 million associated with our trading credit facility due to reduced borrowings and lower interest and fees of $0.5 million related to product financing arrangements, partially offset by an increase of $6.2 million related to precious metals leases driven by higher overall borrowings. Earnings from equity method investments in Q1 2027 increased $1.4 million to earnings of $0.5 million from a loss of $0.9 million in the same year ago quarter due to increased earnings of our equity method investees. Other income and expense net of fiscal Q1 was an expense of $0.7 million compared to income of $2.2 million in Q1 of last year.

The change was primarily due to a $4.3 million increase in expenses related to contingent consideration fair value adjustments partially offset by a $0.7 million unrecognized gain on our holdings of XAUT. Net income attributable to the company for the first quarter of fiscal 2027 totaled $1.6 million or $0.05 per diluted share compared to a net loss of $0.9 million or $0.04 per diluted share in the same year ago quarter. Adjusted net income before provision for income taxes, a non-GAAP financial measure, which excludes depreciation, amortization, acquisition costs and contingent consideration fair value adjustments, for Q1 fiscal 2027 totaled $13.2 million, an increase of $8.4 million or 172% compared to $4.9 million in the same year ago quarter.

EBITDA, a non-GAAP liquidity measure, for Q1 fiscal 2027 totaled $17.4 million, an increase of $3.1 million or 22% compared to $14.3 million in the same year ago quarter. Turning to our balance sheet now. We continue to maintain strong liquidity position, supported by our product financing arrangements, precious metals lease facilities and our $250 million uncommitted trading credit facility, which had no outstanding borrowings at quarter end. At quarter end, we had $126.8 million of cash compared to $578 million at the end of fiscal 2026. The decrease in cash was primarily due to a $700.5 million reduction in deferred revenue and other advances, including precious metal leases, partially offset by a $225.7 million of net product financing and $105.7 million increase in accounts payable and other payables. We also paid $35.1 million in dividends during the quarter.

Our nonrestricted inventory totaled $1.348 billion as of September 30, 2026, compared to $1.562 billion as of the end of fiscal 2026. During the quarter, we paid our regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.20 per share along with a nonrecurring special dividend of $1 per share, totaling $35.1 million. Gold.com's Board of Directors has also declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.20 per share, maintaining the company's current dividend program. The dividend is payable on December 2, 2026, to stockholders of record as of November 19, 2026.

This completes my financial summary. I will now turn the call over to Greg, who is presenting for Thor today. He will provide an update on our key operating metrics. Greg?

Gregory Roberts

Thank you, Jill. As Jill said, Thor is traveling this week, and he will return to cover this section next quarter. But I will take over from here and go over a few of the key operating metrics for our fiscal first quarter 2027. In the quarter, we sold 463,000 ounces of gold, which was up 5% from Q1 of last year, but down 11% from the prior quarter. We sold 14 million ounces of silver in Q1 '27, which was up 35% from Q1 of last year, but down 9% from the prior quarter. In our Minting and Refining segment, we began reporting separately this fiscal year. We minted approximately 9 million ounces of silver and 26,000 ounces of gold during the quarter, and our refining capacity utilization was approximately 65%.

The number of new customers in our DTC segment, which is defined as those who registered, set up a new account or made a purchase for the first time during the period, was 96,100. This was up 38% from Q1 of last year and up 42% from the prior quarter. This year-over-year change in new customers was primarily due to the acquisition of Monex in January 2026 as well as increased JMB activity. Total DTC ticket volume was approximately 273,000 in Q1 of '27, up 21% from Q1 of last year, primarily due to increases from SGI and Silver Gold Bull, partially offset by decreases at JMB and AMS. The DTC average order value was $3,482, down 10% from Q1 of last year, while JM Bullion's average order value increased 16% to $2,943.

The number of total customers in the DTC segment at the end of the first quarter was approximately 4.8 million, which was a 13% increase from the prior year.

These changes in customer base metrics were primarily due to the acquisition of Monex in January 2026 as well as activity at JM Bullion. Finally, the number of secured loans at the end of September totaled 372, a decrease of 12% from September 30, '25, and up 1% from the end of June 2026. The dollar value of our loan portfolio as of September 30, 2026, totaled $107 million, up 4% from September 30, 2025, and a decrease of 7% from June 30, '26.

Now for my closing remarks. This quarter demonstrated the resilience of our fully integrated platform in a slow market environment. We grew gross profit and ounces sold year-over-year, expanded our customer base and began reporting our Minting and Refining segment, which further strengthens our vertically integrated model. Our strategic focus remains on integrating and realizing cost savings and the synergies from our recent acquisitions, expanding both our domestic and geographic reach as well as further diversifying our customer base with an expanded portfolio of category-leading brands and improved operational leverage. I believe Gold.com is positioned to capture growth across multiple markets and to continue to deliver long-term value for our shareholders.

This concludes my prepared remarks. Operator, we can now open the line for questions.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] And our first question today is coming from Thomas Forte from Maxim Group.

Perguntas e respostas

Thomas Forte

So first off, Jill, welcome to the call. Greg, I have two questions, and I apologize, the first one is not perfectly worded, but hopefully, you will understand what I'm asking.

Gregory Roberts

Hopefully, the answer will be better worded than you asking the question.

Thomas Forte

That I know.

Gregory Roberts

But you go right ahead, Tom.

Thomas Forte

So at a high level, should we think of your ability to generate a profit in a slow operating environment versus prior periods due to not experiencing backwardation and that ex backwardation, you should have a GAAP profit in every quarter?

Gregory Roberts

Yes. I mean, my goal is to have a GAAP profit in every quarter, of course. I think the business is growing very quickly. We're very pleased with the acquisitions that we've made. As I said before, we're integrating, we're getting synergies. The last 3 months have been probably about as slow as I've seen, and I've been doing this a very long time. I thought this Q1 of last fiscal year, I commented then that I thought it was very slow, but this seems slower to me. So the performance that we had was, I thought we achieved and got what we could out of it. I think that going forward, I believe we're building a company that is -- has more diversified income streams, and I believe we're growing the business and taking market share.

But to be quite honest, in this last quarter, the market share of the overall business shrunk considerably, and so there was less volume overall. And our segments, although we likely maintain market share, there was just less margin to get and some of the sales that we did, we needed to cut margin to get the sales. So -- but to answer your question, the answer is yes.

Thomas Forte

And then historically, in slow periods, you've taken advantage of opportunities on the strategic M&A side. So I'd appreciate -- I know you've talked about -- you just said that you're pleased with the deals you've done and integrating them, but I'd appreciate an update on your thoughts on strategic M&A.

Gregory Roberts

I mean, I've been saying this for 10 years. When the market slows down, it gives us opportunity and deals that we may have felt were too pricey in the past during a more active market, those tend to become either cheaper or they become easier to negotiate terms and sellers become -- lose a little bit of their leverage. So I don't think that's a surprise. I think that's pretty common in all businesses that when they slow down or change happens and opportunity is there.

We have what I believe is a very good pipeline right now for M&A and deals that we're looking at. So I'm optimistic that we're going to continue the trend that we did last fiscal year, and I'm excited about the prospects of the businesses we own, and I'm excited about the prospects of adding new businesses that lift the entire ship, which is my goal.

Thomas Forte

May I add a quick question then? So in the strategic M&A front, you've broadened your aperture a little to the extent you've got into wine on a collection basis or numismatics on a collection basis. So when you talk high level about your strategic M&A, are you talking about the broader aperture or just the historical precious metals focus?

Gregory Roberts

I would say the broader Gold.com business. I mean, on the collectibles side, at the moment, as I look forward, maybe the next couple of quarters, I don't think there's a material acquisition out there for us. I think that we are progressing very positively on some organic growth items that we've been able to take our platform and create some new income streams that I think are very promising and have good potential. But at the moment, and as I look out the next couple of quarters, I would say the M&A activity would likely be more focused on the macro Gold.com business.

Operator

Your next question is coming from Craig Irwin from ROTH Capital.

Andrew Scutt

It's Andrew on for Craig. First one for me. I know a lot of this might be answered when the [ 10-Q ] comes out. But as you begin to report the minting business separately, are there any operating metrics or anything we should focus on to gauge its performance? And then just kind of over the next couple of months, is there any milestones we should kind of look out for to see if you're capturing the benefits of the integration?

Gregory Roberts

Yes. I mean, we added a metric, I believe, this quarter that talks about our capacity and the percentage of capacity that we're operating at. So I think that's a metric you should watch. I think premiums, again, like all of our shareholders are focused on premiums. And when premiums are higher for sovereign mint products, it's going to raise premiums for private mint products. So I think the premiums are key to a number of parts of our business. And then as always, the premiums are they -- are the premiums higher and are they -- create -- are the premiums higher because there's demand that is increasing, which is increasing those premiums? Or is demand flat and the premiums are just holding because there's a bit of an equilibrium?

But I think the minting is important. And I think we're very we're very enthusiastic about the -- as we've been able to combine both Sunshine Mint, the Silver Towne Mint under common management. We're excited about the prospects of the Sunshine Mint that we have in Shanghai, and that mint is picking up some important customers, likely due to some management changes and as well as just the Gold.com backing of the business seems to be opening some doors for us in Shanghai, and that is trickling and coming over to our LPM business in Hong Kong.

So I think the minting business has a lot of momentum at the moment. It is a volume-based business and the profitability of the minting business has a lot to do with what level your percentage of your capacity you're operating at because there's -- you can't just flip a switch and turn the mints on and off. You have to maintain a level of activity even if you're not producing at a high percentage of your capacity. We do our best in the minting business when they're running 24/7. And if we get to an environment again, where we're running 24/7 at all 3 or 4 of our mints. That profitability is going to be material.

The other new item that is mentioned -- was mentioned earlier through our controlling acquisition of Sunshine Mint, we've picked up a small refining business in Idaho, which is giving us some flexibility, particularly on some of the buybacks that we experienced heavy volume and buybacks last fiscal year. Having some -- a little bit of extra refining capacity is going to help us in that segment as we buy back product from the marketplace that needs to be melted, refined and then turned into some other type of more desirable product.

Andrew Scutt

Understood. Really appreciate the color, and a good segue into my next question. Just was curious, just 2 parts kind of on customer behavior recently. As you said, you guys were experiencing a bunch of buybacks last fiscal year. I was just curious how that trended in the quarter. And then I was also just curious if you had any comments. We're past the election, any color on what you've seen in the market would be great.

Gregory Roberts

Yes. So over the last 60 days, we've experienced a reasonably orderly decline in silver and gold spot prices. So you've seen gold come off of its highs in January, February. We settled at around $4,400 on gold, around $75 on silver, $70 on silver. In the last 2 weeks, as we've approached the election and as interest rates have continued to be volatile, but mostly to the upside, we saw a fairly significant drop down to the $3,900 level on gold and down to $49, $50 on silver. Those were yearly lows likely or at least 9- to 10-month lows. So that has affected the buybacks. When you get dropping prices, we're going to buy back less from the public as opposed to when you have record spot prices and the record spot prices are in the news every day. So I would say that in this quarter, your question related to this quarter, is that our buybacks as a percentage of our new sales has dropped significantly.

And then back to the election, I mean, the election question, it's a little early to tell. I think we did see towards the end of October and the first few days of November leading up to the election, we have seen a noticeable increase in activity and volumes. It's a very small sample size. We're talking maybe a week or 10 days. But I do think that if you look back historically, the type of results that we saw last night in this election has historically led to more activity in our customer base.

Obviously, past performance is no indication of what's going to happen in the future. But I can say just from a historical perspective, whether it was the war or the interest rates or the other headwinds that we talked about last quarter, there is -- there's going to be change. I don't know what that change will be. I don't know how it will motivate or not motivate our customer base. I can just say historically, what I see setting up in Congress and what I see setting up in the White House, has historically been probably a bit more positive than what we saw in the last 3 to 6 months.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] The next question today is coming from Mike Baker from D.A. Davidson.

Michael Baker

Okay. A couple, first, can I just follow up, Greg, on what you just said about what you're seeing -- not to make this too much about the election. But I'm just curious, what is it specifically that you're seeing? Is it flipping -- is it when the Senate of the House flips that historically is positive? Is it when you have gridlock? In other words, the Congress and the President from different parties? Or is it just -- is it a Democrats taking over? I'm just curious with your benefit of history, what specifically makes you encouraged about what we saw last night?

Gregory Roberts

I mean, that's not an easy question to answer, but I'll give it my best shot. I mean, our older precious metals customers, whether they're our customers or somebody else's customers, they tend -- the older ones tend to lean a bit more to the right, a bit more conservative, and a bit more Trump-friendly. That's not to say that, that carries on to our younger customers at this point, but that's kind of what it's been historically. I think that like a lot of investments and like a lot of decisions that are made in life, many of them are fear-based. And I would say that historically, when this type of big change happens, it's likely to lead to, as you mentioned, gridlock, and it's likely to put what -- the unknown going forward of this environment is likely to put some fear in our customers.

We tended to do better when Trump was out of office than we've probably -- we did when he was in office in his first term. And so I just think it's a little bit of a fear-based decision tree, and there's a lot of unknowns out there right now. I try to try not to be too political. I think the business is set up for any environment, but I see change happening, and I feel like there's a good possibility it will be positive for us.

Michael Baker

Yes. Fair enough. Yes, let's not get political. Let me ask you about premiums. So volumes were down, but the gross margin did widen nicely on a year-over-year basis. And last quarter, I think it was actually down. So what are you seeing in premiums?

Gregory Roberts

In the last 60 days, premiums have edged up a bit and/or held. We don't see the panic buying yet. We don't see the rush to buy product. But I am positive in that the premiums at the moment are trending towards higher and stability even when volumes are down a little bit. And that's a key element. When volumes are racing and volumes are very high, it's a supply and demand thing. That's more demand than supply, and you see an increase in premiums.

The fact that we're seeing some relative stability in premiums, if not rising a little bit right now, while we're in a little bit more tepid demand environment, I think, is positive as we look to start the next quarter -- as we started the next quarter.

Michael Baker

Yes. Agreed. Okay. Let me ask you one more, if I could. The -- you talk a little bit about what's going on your leasing, the economic impact of some of the leasing agreements you have with Tether? Are you borrowing more? This was a topic that came up into the quarter. And just wondering if you guys had any comments on that.

Gregory Roberts

I mean, if you look into the release and when you see the [ 10-Q ] you're going to see our leases have dropped significantly. So we have -- we had a little bit of a timing situation at the end of last quarter. It has been called out both in a news article as well as in our filings that we had a very high level of leases with Tether. And we have adjusted those and we've adjusted them and they've come down. And I think they're currently -- at the end of September, I think the number that I looked at on the balance sheet is they're probably down in the $800 million range. So we have adjusted that.

And as I discussed on the last call, there's a little bit of a Goldilocks moment with getting it just right. When we have too many leases and we have -- we don't have enough inventory to use the leases to hedge, we have a lot of cash and we have what, in essence, is an unused line fee on the leases because the leases aren't being used as a pure hedge, which is where leases are most optimal. So I think we're pretty well positioned right now. Our liquidity is good. Our leases are where we want them, both with Tether and with the 4 or 5 other counterparties we use for leases. So I think for right now, it looks like where we're at, at September -- at the end of September in this filing is where we're going to stabilize a bit.

So I'm happy with where we're at on the leases and the company has plenty of liquidity and plenty of access to liquidity to continue our capital deployment in our 4 or 5 pillars of how we deploy, whether it be stock buybacks, whether it be buying inventory, whether it be paying down our dollar line or whether we look to dividends or whether it's M&A. I'm very, very happy with our liquidity position right now. And also just having the spot prices down, it costs us a lot more capital to finance gold at $5,000 than it does at $4,000 or silver at $100. So we naturally create more liquidity and more excess capital as spot prices come down.

Operator

Your next question is coming from Brian McNamara from Canaccord.

Brian McNamara

I just wanted to get an update on the Tether partnership. It looks like they increased their stake, Greg. And I know in September on the call, you had mentioned the gold lease line was "multiples" of kind of the initial $100 million-plus agreement. And then obviously, the 10-K comes out, it's a big number, I think $1.5 billion. Just curious where that stands relationship-wise, Gold lease line potential and all that good stuff, if you can give us an update there.

Gregory Roberts

Yes. I mean, the Tether relationship has been great. We're working on a number of initiatives with them that I am very excited about. I look forward to continuing our collaboration with them. The relationship with Tether has certainly opened up opportunities for us at Gold.com and being able to bounce -- just being able to bounce potential transactions that are good for us off of them. I think they bring a really great insight into the marketplace that I'm able to converse with them and take advantage of. So I think that, that relationship continues to be positive. As I just said, yes, I mean, I think our leases with them are, as you just pointed out, and the exact numbers will come out in our filing, but I believe we're down about $700 million on leases.

That has been a good -- it's at a good size right now for us. I think we would have -- as I said, we don't want overcapacity or we don't want to be borrowing or taking funds that we can't put to use, so I like where we're at right now. And yes, I mean, it was multiples of the initial $100 million, $150 million. Obviously, when I said it last call, even at $700 million or $800 million, it's still multiples of the original, so it's just less multiples. But it's good for us. And I think the -- we're in a good spot right now.

Brian McNamara

So that downdraft in $700 million is just more of a function of you going from kind of $10 billion to $5 million, the $3 billion plus in revenue in the last few quarters rather than anything detrimental to the relationship?

Gregory Roberts

Yes. No, I mean, as I have said, there is a sweet spot, and we are in a marketplace that is quite volatile right now. I mean, there's a lot of unknowns. There's a lot going on. As I've said before, there's all kinds of different factors playing into interest rates, oil, gold, equities, everything. I think that we're comfortable with where their leases are right now. And I think we have a great dialogue with them that they understand that we're able to put that money to use. And -- but right now, we -- as I've said for a number of reasons, we just -- we don't need to pay for excess capital right now. We're -- we have a number of liquidity levers that we're able to pull. We're very comfortable with our special dividend last quarter. We're comfortable with our dividend now.

I think we're positioned well for, as I said before, our 4 or 5 different pillars of where we want to deploy capital, where we think we get the best return. So I have nothing but positive as it relates to Tether. And yes, I mean, we understand that as everybody can see, that they're in the open market, and they have bought stock, and I don't have any insight into that. I think -- but I can say that they're very positive shareholders. And if they believe they see the share price at a price that they believe from their analysis is advantageous, I would expect them to buy stock.

Operator

At this time, this concludes our question-and-answer session. I'd now like to turn the call back over to Mr. Roberts for his closing remarks.

Gregory Roberts

Thank you very much. As always, thanking our many shareholders and for joining our call today, your continued interest and support. I appreciate also our employees, our new employees, our old employees and their dedication and commitment to Gold.com's success. Thank you to all, and we look forward to keeping you updated on our continued progress throughout this Q2. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Before we conclude today's call, I would like to provide Gold.com's safe harbor statement, which includes important cautions regarding forward-looking statements made during this call. Statements made during this call that relate to Gold.com's future plans, objectives, expectations, performance, events and the like are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These include statements regarding expectations with respect to growth, increasing market share and the delivery of long-term value. Future events, risks and uncertainties, individually or in the aggregate, could cause actual results or circumstances to differ materially from those expressed or implied in these statements.

Factors that could cause actual results to differ include the following: the failure to execute the company's growth strategy, including the inability to identify suitable or available acquisition or investment opportunities; greater-than-anticipated costs incurred to execute the strategy; our inability to execute on our cost containment and expense reduction programs, government regulations that might impede growth, particularly in Asia, including with respect to tariff policy; the inability to successfully integrate our recently acquired businesses; the inability of the company successfully to expand its business to include cryptocurrency; the inability of the company to work with its strategic partners to combine traditional precious metal assets and a blockchain-based infrastructure, changes in the current international political climate, which historically has favorably contributed to demand and volatility in the precious metals market, but also has posed certain risks and uncertainties for the company.

Increased competition for the company's higher-margin services, which could depress pricing; the failure of the company's business model to respond to changes in the market environment as anticipated; changes in consumer demand and preferences for precious metal products, generally; potential negative effects that inflationary pressure may have on our business; the failure of our investee companies to maintain or address the preferences of their customer bases; general risks of doing business in the commodity markets; and the strategic business, economic, financial, political and governmental risks and other risk factors described in the company's public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. Listeners are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Finally, I would like to remind everyone that a recording of today's call will be available for replay via a link in the Investor Relations section of the company's website. Thank you for joining us today for Gold.com's earnings call. You may now disconnect.