Watsco (WSO) Competitors

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

Is WSO or FAST more profitable?

Fastenal has a net margin of 15.30% compared to Watsco's net margin of 6.98%. Fastenal's return on equity of 32.33% beat Watsco's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Watsco	6.98%	17.13%	11.86%
Fastenal	15.30%	32.33%	24.62%

Do analysts recommend WSO or FAST?

Watsco currently has a consensus price target of $484.17, suggesting a potential downside of 1.03%. Fastenal has a consensus price target of $45.64, suggesting a potential downside of 4.43%. Given Watsco's higher probable upside, equities 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)	8 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.17

Which has more risk and volatility, WSO or FAST?

Watsco has a beta of 1.04, indicating that its share price is 4% more 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.

Does the media favor WSO or FAST?

In the previous week, Fastenal had 6 more articles in the media than Watsco. MarketBeat recorded 13 mentions for Fastenal and 7 mentions for Watsco. Fastenal's average media sentiment score of 0.98 beat Watsco's score of 0.57 indicating that Fastenal is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Watsco	5 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Fastenal	9 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is WSO or FAST a better dividend stock?

Watsco pays an annual dividend of $12.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Fastenal pays an annual dividend of $0.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. Watsco pays out 92.2% 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 raised its dividend for 13 consecutive years and Fastenal has raised its dividend for 26 consecutive years.

Do institutionals & insiders 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 company insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of Fastenal shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, 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	2.60	$536.29M	$13.01	37.60
Fastenal	$7.55B	7.26	$1.15B	$1.04	45.91

Summary

Fastenal beats Watsco on 12 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.