Watsco (WSO) Competitors

Watsco (NYSE:WSO) and Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) 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 analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability, media sentiment, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation and risk.

Is WSO or FAST more profitable?

Fastenal has a net margin of 15.30% compared to Watsco's net margin of 7.08%. Fastenal's return on equity of 32.33% beat Watsco's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Watsco	7.08%	16.96%	11.69%
Fastenal	15.30%	32.33%	24.62%

Which has more risk and volatility, WSO or FAST?

Watsco has a beta of 0.95, meaning that its stock price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Fastenal has a beta of 0.95, meaning that its stock price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in WSO or FAST?

89.7% of Watsco shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 81.4% of Fastenal shares are owned by institutional investors. 12.8% of Watsco shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of Fastenal shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Do analysts prefer WSO or FAST?

Watsco currently has a consensus target price of $484.17, indicating a potential upside of 14.74%. Fastenal has a consensus target price of $46.36, indicating a potential downside of 4.78%. Given Watsco's higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Watsco is more favorable than Fastenal.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Watsco	0 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.14
Fastenal	1 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.38

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, WSO or FAST?

Fastenal has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Watsco. Watsco 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
Watsco	$7.62B	2.24	$536.29M	$13.04	32.36
Fastenal	$7.55B	7.41	$1.15B	$1.04	46.82

Is WSO or FAST a better dividend stock?

Watsco pays an annual dividend of $12.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Fastenal pays an annual dividend of $0.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. Watsco pays out 92.0% 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 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. Watsco has increased its dividend for 13 consecutive years and Fastenal has increased its dividend for 26 consecutive years.

Does the media favor WSO or FAST?

In the previous week, Fastenal had 26 more articles in the media than Watsco. MarketBeat recorded 43 mentions for Fastenal and 17 mentions for Watsco. Fastenal's average media sentiment score of 1.22 beat Watsco's score of 1.05 indicating that Fastenal is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Watsco	13 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Fastenal	30 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Fastenal beats Watsco on 13 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.