FAST vs. GWW, URI, WSO, WCC, AIT, BECN, AL, GATX, MSM, and RUSHA
Should you be buying Fastenal stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Fastenal include W.W. Grainger (GWW), United Rentals (URI), Watsco (WSO), WESCO International (WCC), Applied Industrial Technologies (AIT), Beacon Roofing Supply (BECN), Air Lease (AL), GATX (GATX), MSC Industrial Direct (MSM), and Rush Enterprises (RUSHA). These companies are all part of the "trading companies & distributors" industry.
Fastenal vs. Its Competitors
W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) and Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) are both large-cap trading companies & distributors companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, earnings, media sentiment, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation and dividends.
W.W. Grainger pays an annual dividend of $9.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. Fastenal pays an annual dividend of $0.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. W.W. Grainger pays out 23.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Fastenal pays out 88.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. W.W. Grainger has increased its dividend for 55 consecutive years and Fastenal has increased its dividend for 26 consecutive years.
W.W. Grainger presently has a consensus target price of $1,123.13, indicating a potential upside of 7.99%. Fastenal has a consensus target price of $40.40, indicating a potential downside of 3.81%. Given W.W. Grainger's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe W.W. Grainger is more favorable than Fastenal.
In the previous week, W.W. Grainger had 23 more articles in the media than Fastenal. MarketBeat recorded 30 mentions for W.W. Grainger and 7 mentions for Fastenal. W.W. Grainger's average media sentiment score of 1.51 beat Fastenal's score of 0.65 indicating that W.W. Grainger is being referred to more favorably in the media.
Fastenal has a net margin of 15.13% compared to W.W. Grainger's net margin of 11.08%. W.W. Grainger's return on equity of 51.28% beat Fastenal's return on equity.
W.W. Grainger has a beta of 1.21, indicating that its share price is 21% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Fastenal has a beta of 0.97, indicating that its share price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500.
W.W. Grainger has higher revenue and earnings than Fastenal. W.W. Grainger is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Fastenal, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
80.7% of W.W. Grainger shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 81.4% of Fastenal shares are held by institutional investors. 6.1% of W.W. Grainger shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of Fastenal shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Summary
W.W. Grainger beats Fastenal on 13 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.
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New MarketBeat Followers Over Time
This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding FAST and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Media Sentiment Over Time
This chart shows the average media sentiment of NASDAQ and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
Fastenal Competitors List
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This page (NASDAQ:FAST) was last updated on 6/30/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
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