Fastenal (FAST) Competitors

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

Do analysts rate FAST or GWW?

Fastenal currently has a consensus target price of $79.10, suggesting a potential downside of 3.44%. W.W. Grainger has a consensus target price of $1,120.00, suggesting a potential upside of 2.60%. Given W.W. Grainger's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly 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

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in FAST or GWW?

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

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%

Does the media prefer FAST or GWW?

In the previous week, W.W. Grainger had 20 more articles in the media than Fastenal. MarketBeat recorded 28 mentions for W.W. Grainger and 8 mentions for Fastenal. W.W. Grainger's average media sentiment score of 1.23 beat Fastenal's score of 0.21 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	2 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
W.W. Grainger	20 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

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, 53.55% of users gave Fastenal an outperform vote while only 53.31% of users gave W.W. Grainger an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Fastenal	Outperform Votes 422 53.55%	Underperform Votes 366 46.45%
W.W. Grainger	Outperform Votes 547 53.31%	Underperform Votes 479 46.69%

Which has more volatility and risk, FAST or GWW?

Fastenal has a beta of 1.01, meaning that its stock price is 1% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, W.W. Grainger has a beta of 1.24, meaning that its stock price is 24% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is FAST or GWW a better dividend stock?

Fastenal pays an annual dividend of $1.76 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 87.6% 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 raised its dividend for 26 consecutive years and W.W. Grainger has raised its dividend for 55 consecutive years.

Which has stronger valuation and earnings, 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	6.17	$1.15B	$2.01	40.76
W.W. Grainger	$17.24B	3.04	$1.91B	$38.95	28.03

Summary

W.W. Grainger beats Fastenal on 14 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.