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W.W. Grainger (GWW) Competitors

W.W. Grainger logo
$980.23 -7.38 (-0.75%)
Closing price 09/22/2025 03:59 PM Eastern
Extended Trading
$979.34 -0.89 (-0.09%)
As of 09:09 AM Eastern
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GWW vs. FAST, AME, GGG, HUBB, ITW, MSM, WSO, URI, WCC, and AIT

Should you be buying W.W. Grainger stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of W.W. Grainger include Fastenal (FAST), AMETEK (AME), Graco (GGG), Hubbell (HUBB), Illinois Tool Works (ITW), MSC Industrial Direct (MSM), Watsco (WSO), United Rentals (URI), WESCO International (WCC), and Applied Industrial Technologies (AIT).

W.W. Grainger vs. Its Competitors

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

Fastenal pays an annual dividend of $0.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. W.W. Grainger pays an annual dividend of $9.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. Fastenal pays out 84.6% 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 22.9% 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.

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.

CompanyGross RevenuePrice/Sales RatioNet IncomeEarnings Per SharePrice/Earnings Ratio
Fastenal$7.55B7.17$1.15B$1.0445.31
W.W. Grainger$17.17B2.73$1.91B$39.4124.87

Fastenal presently has a consensus target price of $46.82, indicating a potential downside of 0.64%. W.W. Grainger has a consensus target price of $1,069.13, indicating a potential upside of 9.07%. Given W.W. Grainger's higher possible 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)
4 Buy rating(s)
1 Strong Buy rating(s)
2.36
W.W. Grainger
2 Sell rating(s)
7 Hold rating(s)
2 Buy rating(s)
1 Strong Buy rating(s)
2.17

In the previous week, Fastenal had 42 more articles in the media than W.W. Grainger. MarketBeat recorded 68 mentions for Fastenal and 26 mentions for W.W. Grainger. Fastenal's average media sentiment score of 1.74 beat W.W. Grainger's score of 1.37 indicating that Fastenal is being referred to more favorably in the media.

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

Fastenal has a beta of 0.97, meaning that its share price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, W.W. Grainger has a beta of 1.18, meaning that its share price is 18% more volatile than the S&P 500.

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 large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Fastenal has a net margin of 15.30% compared to W.W. Grainger's net margin of 10.99%. W.W. Grainger's return on equity of 49.63% beat Fastenal's return on equity.

Company Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets
Fastenal15.30% 32.33% 24.62%
W.W. Grainger 10.99%49.63%21.63%

Summary

Fastenal beats W.W. Grainger on 10 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 GWW and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
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Media Sentiment Over Time

This chart shows the average media sentiment of NYSE 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.
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GWW vs. The Competition

MetricW.W. GraingerIndustrial Services IndustryIndustrials SectorNYSE Exchange
Market Cap$47.24B$17.92B$7.80B$21.65B
Dividend Yield0.92%2.24%4.58%3.50%
P/E Ratio24.8723.15307.7030.24
Price / Sales2.739.95239.5658.73
Price / Cash22.2914.0427.9818.30
Price / Book12.894.704.784.66
Net Income$1.91B$647.08M$799.16M$1.00B
7 Day Performance-1.36%6.93%1.25%1.11%
1 Month Performance-3.96%8.51%2.43%2.95%
1 Year Performance-5.91%26.35%27.17%15.18%

W.W. Grainger Competitors List

CompanyMarketRankShare PriceAnalysts' Price Target1Y Price PerformanceMarket CapRevenueP/E RatioEmployee CountIndicator(s)
GWW
W.W. Grainger
4.5469 of 5 stars
$980.23
-0.7%
$1,069.13
+9.1%
-5.0%$47.24B$17.17B24.8726,000Positive News
FAST
Fastenal
4.2779 of 5 stars
$47.76
+0.7%
$46.82
-2.0%
+33.2%$54.81B$7.55B45.9223,702Positive News
AME
AMETEK
4.5251 of 5 stars
$189.60
-0.2%
$205.00
+8.1%
+10.2%$43.79B$6.94B30.5321,500Positive News
GGG
Graco
4.1211 of 5 stars
$84.77
+0.4%
$94.50
+11.5%
-0.1%$14.05B$2.17B30.064,300Positive News
HUBB
Hubbell
3.4001 of 5 stars
$438.11
+0.2%
$472.63
+7.9%
+3.0%$23.28B$5.63B28.4517,700
ITW
Illinois Tool Works
4.2522 of 5 stars
$263.91
+0.2%
$260.67
-1.2%
+2.7%$76.93B$15.90B23.1344,000Positive News
MSM
MSC Industrial Direct
3.7782 of 5 stars
$91.82
+0.5%
$90.33
-1.6%
+8.4%$5.11B$3.74B25.947,423Positive News
WSO
Watsco
4.4814 of 5 stars
$386.38
+1.2%
$484.17
+25.3%
-20.0%$15.67B$7.51B29.637,295Positive News
URI
United Rentals
4.3257 of 5 stars
$947.64
+1.0%
$842.86
-11.1%
+20.4%$60.97B$15.35B24.5127,900Positive News
Analyst Forecast
WCC
WESCO International
4.3904 of 5 stars
$214.89
+0.1%
$232.67
+8.3%
+25.9%$10.46B$21.82B16.8320,000Positive News
AIT
Applied Industrial Technologies
4.766 of 5 stars
$262.52
-0.3%
$285.00
+8.6%
+21.3%$9.91B$4.56B25.946,800Positive News

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This page (NYSE:GWW) was last updated on 9/23/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
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