Fastenal (FAST) Competitors

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) and W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) are both large-cap retail/wholesale companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, profitability, media sentiment, dividends, community ranking, analyst recommendations, risk and institutional ownership.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in FAST or GWW?

W.W. Grainger received 125 more outperform votes than Fastenal when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 53.35% of users gave Fastenal an outperform vote while only 53.26% of users gave W.W. Grainger an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Fastenal	Outperform Votes 422 53.35%	Underperform Votes 369 46.65%
W.W. Grainger	Outperform Votes 547 53.26%	Underperform Votes 480 46.74%

Is FAST or GWW a better dividend stock?

Fastenal pays an annual dividend of $0.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. W.W. Grainger pays an annual dividend of $9.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. 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 pays out 23.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Fastenal has increased its dividend for 26 consecutive years and W.W. Grainger has increased its dividend for 55 consecutive years.

Which has higher earnings & valuation, FAST or GWW?

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.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Fastenal	$7.61B	6.35	$1.15B	$1.00	42.13
W.W. Grainger	$17.24B	3.00	$1.91B	$38.95	27.68

Is FAST or GWW more profitable?

Fastenal has a net margin of 15.25% compared to W.W. Grainger's net margin of 11.12%. W.W. Grainger's return on equity of 52.43% beat Fastenal's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Fastenal	15.25%	32.55%	24.78%
W.W. Grainger	11.12%	52.43%	22.15%

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of FAST or GWW?

81.4% of Fastenal shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.7% of W.W. Grainger shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.4% of Fastenal shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 6.1% of W.W. Grainger shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more volatility and risk, FAST or GWW?

Fastenal has a beta of 0.97, meaning that its stock price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, W.W. Grainger has a beta of 1.21, meaning that its stock price is 21% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media prefer FAST or GWW?

In the previous week, W.W. Grainger had 11 more articles in the media than Fastenal. MarketBeat recorded 13 mentions for W.W. Grainger and 2 mentions for Fastenal. W.W. Grainger's average media sentiment score of 1.65 beat Fastenal's score of 0.48 indicating that W.W. Grainger is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Fastenal	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
W.W. Grainger	13 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Do analysts recommend FAST or GWW?

Fastenal currently has a consensus target price of $40.40, indicating a potential downside of 4.11%. W.W. Grainger has a consensus target price of $1,123.13, indicating a potential upside of 4.16%. Given W.W. Grainger's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe W.W. Grainger is more favorable than Fastenal.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Fastenal	1 Sell rating(s)	8 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.09
W.W. Grainger	2 Sell rating(s)	8 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.15

Summary

W.W. Grainger beats Fastenal on 15 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.