Fastenal (FAST) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

Fastenal (NASDAQ: FAST) is a wholesale distributor of industrial and construction supplies, best known for its broad assortment of fasteners such as bolts, nuts, screws and anchors. Founded in Winona, Minnesota, Fastenal has grown from a regional supplier into a national and international distributor serving a wide range of end markets, including manufacturing, construction, maintenance, repair and operations (MRO), and government customers. The company is publicly traded and operates through a network of locally staffed branches combined with national distribution capabilities.

Product offerings extend beyond fasteners to include tools, safety and personal protective equipment, power transmission components, cutting and welding supplies, janitorial and material handling items, and other industrial consumables. Fastenal also offers a range of services designed to improve customers’ supply chains, including on-site inventory management, vendor-managed inventory programs, automated vending solutions, custom kitting and packaging, and value-added services such as machining and assembly. Sales are conducted through branch locations, e-commerce channels and automated solutions tailored to site-level needs.

Founded by Bob Kierlin, Fastenal retains a roots-in-local-branches approach while operating a sizeable distribution footprint and logistics platform. The company serves customers across North America and has expanded internationally, combining local branch expertise with larger-scale inventory and fulfillment capabilities. Fastenal’s business model emphasizes close customer relationships, onsite service offerings and integrated inventory solutions to reduce downtime and simplify purchasing for industrial customers. The company is led by a professional executive management team and board of directors responsible for its day-to-day operations and strategic direction.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $43.23 to $44.00
• 50-Day Range: $43.26 to $49.17
• 52-Week Range: $38.97 to $50.63
• Volume: 5.58 million shs
• Average Volume: 6.53 million shs
• Market Capitalization: $50.44 billion
• P/E Ratio: 38.54
• Dividend Yield: 2.18%
• Price Target: $49.77
• Consensus Rating: Hold

Fastenal Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Fastenal scored higher than 89% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 51st out of 199 stocks in the retail/wholesale sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 3.2 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Hold

Consensus Rating

Fastenal has received a consensus rating of Hold. The company's average rating score is 2.23, and is based on no strong buy ratings, 5 buy ratings, 6 hold ratings, and 2 sell ratings.

Upside Potential

Fastenal has a consensus price target of $49.77, representing about 13.3% upside from its current price of $43.94.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

Fastenal has been the subject of 8 research reports in the past 90 days, demonstrating strong analyst interest in this stock.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 1.9 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 11.38%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Fastenal are expected to grow by 11.38% in the coming year, from $1.23 to $1.37 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Fastenal is 38.54, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 44.79.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Fastenal is 38.54, which means that it is trading at a more expensive P/E ratio than the Retail/Wholesale sector average P/E ratio of about 19.81.

Price to Earnings Growth Ratio

Fastenal has a PEG Ratio of 2.80. PEG Ratios above 1 indicate that a company could be overvalued.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Fastenal has a P/B Ratio of 12.63. P/B Ratios above 3 indicate that a company could be overvalued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 3.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Healthy

Percentage of Shares Shorted

2.14% of the float of Fastenal has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Fastenal has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 3.97, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Fastenal has recently increased by 1.12%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing.

Dividend

• Score: 3.3 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Strong

Dividend Yield

Fastenal pays a meaningful dividend of 2.18%, higher than the bottom 25% of all stocks that pay dividends.

Dividend Growth

Fastenal has been increasing its dividend for 26 years.

Dividend Coverage

The dividend payout ratio of Fastenal is 84.21%. Payout ratios above 75% are not desirable because they may not be sustainable.

Dividend Sustainability

Based on earnings estimates, Fastenal will have a dividend payout ratio of 70.07% next year. This indicates that Fastenal will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

News and Social Media

• Score: 4.1 / 5
• News Sentiment: 1.54

News Sentiment

Fastenal has a news sentiment score of 1.54. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This is a higher news sentiment than the 0.52 average news sentiment score of Retail/Wholesale companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 10 news articles for Fastenal this week, compared to 8 articles on an average week.

Search Interest

Only 13 people have searched for FAST on MarketBeat in the last 30 days. This is a decrease of -52% compared to the previous 30 days.

MarketBeat Follows

7 people have added Fastenal to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 133% compared to the previous 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 1.4 / 5
• Insider Trading: Selling Shares

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Fastenal insiders have sold more of their company's stock than they have bought. Specifically, they have bought $0.00 in company stock and sold $1,747,793.00 in company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

0.28% of the stock of Fastenal is held by insiders.

Percentage Held by Institutions

81.38% of the stock of Fastenal is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

Company Calendar

• Record date for 2/26 Dividend: 1/29/2026
• Ex-Dividend for 2/26 Dividend: 1/29/2026
• Dividend Payable: 2/26/2026
• Last Earnings: 4/13/2026
• Record date for 5/26 Dividend: 4/28/2026
• Ex-Dividend for 5/26 Dividend: 4/28/2026
• Today: 5/24/2026
• Dividend Payable: 5/26/2026
• Next Earnings (Estimated): 7/13/2026
• Fiscal Year End: 12/31/2026

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NASDAQ
• Sector: Retail/Wholesale
• Industry: BLDG PRD - RT/WHL
• Sub-Industry: Trading Companies & Distributors
• Current Symbol: NASDAQ:FAST
• CIK: 815556
• Web: www.fastenal.com
• Phone: (507) 454-5374
• Fax: 507-453-8049
• Employees: 24,489
• Year Founded: 1967

Price Target and Rating

• Average Price Target for Fastenal: $49.77
• High Price Target: $82.00
• Low Price Target: $42.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +13.3%
• Consensus Rating: Hold
• Rating Score (0-4): 2.23
• Research Coverage: 13 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Trailing Twelve Months): $1.14
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 38.54
• Forward P/E Ratio: 35.72
• P/E Growth: 2.8
• Net Income: $1.26 billion
• Net Margins: 15.39%
• Pretax Margin: 20.26%
• Return on Equity: 33.25%
• Return on Assets: 25.49%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 0.03
• Current Ratio: 4.39
• Quick Ratio: 2.34

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $8.20 billion
• Price / Sales: 6.15
• Cash Flow: $1.25 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 35.09
• Book Value: $3.48 per share
• Price / Book: 12.63

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 1,148,040,000
• Free Float: 1,144,821,000
• Market Cap: $50.44 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 0.75