MSC Industrial Direct (MSM) Competitors $87.35 +0.29 (+0.33%) Closing price 03:59 PM EasternExtended Trading$87.36 +0.02 (+0.02%) As of 05:22 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 KMTShould 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 Kennametal (KMT). MSC Industrial Direct vs. Its Competitors Fastenal Lincoln Electric Applied Industrial Technologies Donaldson Dover Graco W.W. Grainger ITT Illinois Tool Works Kennametal Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) and MSC Industrial Direct (NYSE:MSM) are both trading companies & distributors companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, risk, valuation, profitability, media sentiment, institutional ownership and dividends. Do analysts rate FAST or MSM? Fastenal currently has a consensus price target of $45.64, indicating a potential downside of 4.43%. MSC Industrial Direct has a consensus price target of $90.33, indicating a potential upside of 3.42%. Given MSC Industrial Direct's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe MSC Industrial Direct 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) 3 Buy rating(s) 0 Strong Buy rating(s) 2.17MSC Industrial Direct 0 Sell rating(s) 3 Hold rating(s) 1 Buy rating(s) 1 Strong Buy rating(s) 2.60 Does the media prefer FAST or MSM? In the previous week, Fastenal had 7 more articles in the media than MSC Industrial Direct. MarketBeat recorded 13 mentions for Fastenal and 6 mentions for MSC Industrial Direct. MSC Industrial Direct's average media sentiment score of 1.48 beat Fastenal's score of 0.98 indicating that MSC Industrial Direct is being referred to more favorably in the news media. Company Very Positive Positive Neutral Negative Very Negative Overall Sentiment Fastenal 9 Very Positive mention(s) 0 Positive mention(s) 3 Neutral mention(s) 0 Negative mention(s) 0 Very Negative mention(s) Positive MSC Industrial Direct 6 Very Positive mention(s) 0 Positive mention(s) 0 Neutral mention(s) 0 Negative mention(s) 0 Very Negative mention(s) Positive Is FAST or MSM more profitable? Fastenal has a net margin of 15.30% compared to MSC Industrial Direct's net margin of 5.30%. Fastenal's return on equity of 32.33% beat MSC Industrial Direct's return on equity.Company Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Fastenal15.30% 32.33% 24.62% MSC Industrial Direct 5.30%14.99%8.39% Which has more risk and volatility, FAST or MSM? Fastenal has a beta of 0.96, suggesting that its share price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, MSC Industrial Direct has a beta of 0.87, suggesting that its share price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500. Which has stronger valuation and earnings, FAST or MSM? 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 RatioFastenal$7.55B7.26$1.15B$1.0445.91MSC Industrial Direct$3.82B1.27$258.59M$3.5424.67 Is FAST or MSM a better dividend stock? Fastenal pays an annual dividend of $0.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. MSC Industrial Direct pays an annual dividend of $3.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. 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. MSC Industrial Direct pays out 96.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Fastenal has raised its dividend for 26 consecutive years and MSC Industrial Direct has raised its dividend for 3 consecutive years. Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of FAST or MSM? 81.4% of Fastenal shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.3% of MSC Industrial Direct shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.4% of Fastenal shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 18.3% of MSC Industrial Direct shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term. 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$4.85B$17.32B$7.88B$21.12BDividend Yield3.91%2.29%4.55%3.60%P/E Ratio24.6721.1725.5628.44Price / Sales1.275.79101.4660.38Price / Cash13.7413.2627.9222.92Price / Book3.534.314.464.69Net Income$258.59M$608.64M$795.63M$995.51M7 Day Performance0.01%7.21%1.37%1.64%1 Month Performance6.51%12.98%6.68%5.92%1 Year Performance1.97%12.60%32.75%11.50% MSC Industrial Direct Competitors List Export to ExcelCompanyMarketRankShare PriceAnalysts' Price Target1Y Price PerformanceMarket CapRevenueP/E RatioEmployee CountIndicator(s)MSMMSC Industrial Direct3.9768 of 5 stars$87.35+0.3%$90.33+3.4%+6.3%$4.85B$3.82B24.677,423Positive NewsFASTFastenal4.343 of 5 stars$46.48+0.9%$45.64-1.8%+42.4%$53.34B$7.55B44.6923,702LECOLincoln Electric3.8375 of 5 stars$221.66-0.1%$222.60+0.4%+13.4%$12.37B$4.01B27.3312,000News CoverageUpcoming EarningsDividend AnnouncementAITApplied Industrial Technologies4.1041 of 5 stars$263.13+0.9%$285.00+8.3%+31.0%$10.02B$4.48B26.426,500Positive NewsDCIDonaldson3.9943 of 5 stars$70.77+0.5%$70.00-1.1%-1.2%$8.25B$3.59B23.7514,000Positive NewsDividend AnnouncementDOVDover4.8284 of 5 stars$188.33+0.0%$208.58+10.8%+5.8%$25.82B$7.73B11.3524,000Trending NewsEarnings ReportAnalyst ForecastGGGGraco4.4558 of 5 stars$86.72+0.2%$93.00+7.2%+4.7%$14.49B$2.15B30.644,300Trending NewsEarnings ReportAnalyst ForecastGWWW.W. Grainger3.3532 of 5 stars$1,031.97+0.4%$1,116.25+8.2%+12.8%$49.58B$17.17B26.4926,000Positive NewsUpcoming EarningsITTITT4.5837 of 5 stars$158.81-0.2%$173.25+9.1%+16.1%$12.50B$3.63B25.2511,700Positive NewsUpcoming EarningsITWIllinois Tool Works4.5322 of 5 stars$257.00+0.7%$255.67-0.5%+9.5%$75.30B$15.90B22.6044,000Positive NewsUpcoming EarningsKMTKennametal2.6483 of 5 stars$24.74+0.7%$25.40+2.7%+3.7%$1.89B$2.05B17.808,447Positive News Related Companies and Tools Related Companies Fastenal Competitors Lincoln Electric Competitors Applied Industrial Technologies Competitors Donaldson Competitors Dover Competitors Graco Competitors W.W. Grainger Competitors ITT Competitors Illinois Tool Works Competitors Kennametal Competitors Top 10 Stock Comparisons Semiconductor Stocks Artificial Intelligence Stocks Growth Stocks Magnificent Seven Stocks Pharmaceutical Stocks Ecommerce Stocks Bitcoin Stocks Meme Stocks Cryptocurrency Stocks Cybersecurity Stocks This page (NYSE:MSM) was last updated on 7/25/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff From Our PartnersINVESTOR ALERT: Tiny “$3 AI Wonder Stock” on the Verge of Blasting OffRight now, we’re witnessing a monumental shift in the world.Traders Agency | SponsoredMarket Panic: Trump Just Dropped a Bomb on Your Stockstock Market Panic: Trump Just Dropped a Bomb on Your Stocks The market is in freefall—and Trump's new tarif...American Alternative | SponsoredGoogle did what!?!?A new technology has sparked a modern-day gold rush in Silicon Valley. OpenAI’s Sam Altman invested $375M. 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