MSC Industrial Direct (MSM) Competitors $89.97 +0.36 (+0.40%) Closing price 03:30 PM EasternExtended Trading$89.90 -0.08 (-0.08%) As of 04:17 PM Eastern Extended trading is trading that happens on electronic markets outside of regular trading hours. This is a fair market value extended hours price provided by Polygon.io. Learn more. Add Compare Share Share Competitors Stock AnalysisAnalyst ForecastsChartCompetitorsDividendEarningsFinancialsHeadlinesInsider TradesOptions ChainOwnershipSEC FilingsShort InterestSustainabilityTrendsBuy This Stock MSM vs. FAST, LECO, AIT, DCI, DOV, GGG, GWW, ITT, ITW, and PHShould you be buying MSC Industrial Direct stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of MSC Industrial Direct include Fastenal (FAST), Lincoln Electric (LECO), Applied Industrial Technologies (AIT), Donaldson (DCI), Dover (DOV), Graco (GGG), W.W. Grainger (GWW), ITT (ITT), Illinois Tool Works (ITW), and Parker-Hannifin (PH). MSC Industrial Direct vs. Its Competitors Fastenal Lincoln Electric Applied Industrial Technologies Donaldson Dover Graco W.W. Grainger ITT Illinois Tool Works Parker-Hannifin MSC Industrial Direct (NYSE:MSM) and Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) are both trading companies & distributors companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, media sentiment, earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation and risk. Is MSM or FAST a better dividend stock? MSC Industrial Direct pays an annual dividend of $3.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. Fastenal pays an annual dividend of $0.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. MSC Industrial Direct pays out 89.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. 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. MSC Industrial Direct has increased its dividend for 3 consecutive years and Fastenal has increased its dividend for 26 consecutive years. Is MSM or FAST more profitable? Fastenal has a net margin of 15.13% compared to MSC Industrial Direct's net margin of 5.30%. Fastenal's return on equity of 31.99% beat MSC Industrial Direct's return on equity.Company Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets MSC Industrial Direct5.30% 14.99% 8.39% Fastenal 15.13%31.99%24.36% Which has stronger valuation and earnings, MSM or FAST? Fastenal has higher revenue and earnings than MSC Industrial Direct. MSC Industrial Direct 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 RatioMSC Industrial Direct$3.82B1.31$258.59M$3.7923.74Fastenal$7.55B6.51$1.15B$1.0042.79 Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of MSM or FAST? 79.3% of MSC Industrial Direct shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 81.4% of Fastenal shares are owned by institutional investors. 18.3% of MSC Industrial Direct shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of Fastenal shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth. Which has more risk and volatility, MSM or FAST? MSC Industrial Direct has a beta of 0.87, indicating that its share price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Fastenal has a beta of 0.96, indicating that its share price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500. Do analysts prefer MSM or FAST? MSC Industrial Direct presently has a consensus price target of $90.33, suggesting a potential upside of 0.40%. Fastenal has a consensus price target of $48.80, suggesting a potential upside of 14.05%. Given Fastenal's higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Fastenal is more favorable than MSC Industrial Direct.Company Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score MSC Industrial Direct 0 Sell rating(s) 3 Hold rating(s) 1 Buy rating(s) 1 Strong Buy rating(s) 2.60Fastenal 1 Sell rating(s) 8 Hold rating(s) 2 Buy rating(s) 0 Strong Buy rating(s) 2.09 Does the media prefer MSM or FAST? In the previous week, MSC Industrial Direct had 32 more articles in the media than Fastenal. MarketBeat recorded 37 mentions for MSC Industrial Direct and 5 mentions for Fastenal. MSC Industrial Direct's average media sentiment score of 0.85 beat Fastenal's score of 0.12 indicating that MSC Industrial Direct is being referred to more favorably in the media. Company Very Positive Positive Neutral Negative Very Negative Overall Sentiment MSC Industrial Direct 14 Very Positive mention(s) 5 Positive mention(s) 11 Neutral mention(s) 0 Negative mention(s) 0 Very Negative mention(s) Positive Fastenal 0 Very Positive mention(s) 1 Positive mention(s) 4 Neutral mention(s) 0 Negative mention(s) 0 Very Negative mention(s) Neutral SummaryFastenal beats MSC Industrial Direct on 13 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks. Get MSC Industrial Direct News Delivered to You Automatically Sign up to receive the latest news and ratings for MSM and its competitors with MarketBeat's FREE daily newsletter. Email Address New MarketBeat Followers Over TimeWhat are MarkeBeat Followers?This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding MSM and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period. Skip ChartMedia Sentiment Over TimeWhat is Media Sentiment?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.Skip Chart MSM vs. The Competition Export to ExcelMetricMSC Industrial DirectIndustrial Services IndustryIndustrials SectorNYSE ExchangeMarket Cap$4.99B$16.92B$7.52B$20.57BDividend Yield3.79%2.29%4.55%3.75%P/E Ratio25.4220.9924.9528.04Price / Sales1.314.89116.1338.39Price / Cash14.1513.0927.3522.31Price / Book3.644.044.354.59Net Income$258.59M$608.64M$791.63M$985.44M7 Day Performance6.05%5.56%2.67%2.91%1 Month Performance10.52%6.28%6.23%5.47%1 Year Performance14.57%6.66%32.85%14.61% MSC Industrial Direct Competitors List Export to ExcelCompanyMarketRankShare PriceAnalysts' Price Target1Y Price PerformanceMarket CapRevenueP/E RatioEmployee CountIndicator(s)MSMMSC Industrial Direct4.2811 of 5 stars$89.97+0.4%$90.33+0.4%+11.8%$4.99B$3.82B25.427,423Trending NewsEarnings ReportAnalyst ForecastAnalyst RevisionFASTFastenal3.7971 of 5 stars$41.950.0%$40.40-3.7%+36.0%$48.09B$7.61B41.7122,400Analyst ForecastLECOLincoln Electric3.4867 of 5 stars$207.37-0.6%$206.40-0.5%+15.4%$11.56B$4.01B25.5412,000Positive NewsEx-DividendAITApplied Industrial Technologies4.6406 of 5 stars$232.67+0.4%$285.00+22.5%+27.7%$8.86B$4.48B23.366,500Positive NewsDCIDonaldson3.893 of 5 stars$69.31-0.4%$70.00+1.0%+0.4%$8.07B$3.59B23.2614,000DOVDover4.9364 of 5 stars$183.40+0.1%$208.58+13.7%+6.4%$25.14B$7.75B11.0525,000Trending NewsAnalyst ForecastAnalyst RevisionGGGGraco3.6695 of 5 stars$85.86-0.3%$93.00+8.3%+12.4%$14.35B$2.11B30.344,300News CoveragePositive NewsAnalyst RevisionGWWW.W. Grainger3.4929 of 5 stars$1,032.96+0.4%$1,123.13+8.7%+12.9%$49.52B$17.24B26.4726,000Positive NewsITTITT4.1441 of 5 stars$157.19-0.5%$165.50+5.3%+26.2%$12.37B$3.63B24.9911,700Analyst RevisionITWIllinois Tool Works4.7024 of 5 stars$246.520.0%$253.42+2.8%+8.9%$72.22B$15.90B21.6846,000Positive NewsEx-DividendAnalyst ForecastPHParker-Hannifin4.5197 of 5 stars$699.94-0.1%$719.71+2.8%+39.5%$89.46B$19.79B26.9655,100Positive NewsAnalyst Forecast Related Companies and Tools Related Companies Fastenal Competitors Lincoln Electric Competitors Applied Industrial Technologies Competitors Donaldson Competitors Dover Competitors Graco Competitors W.W. 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