Fastenal (FAST) Competitors

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

Is FAST or GWW a better dividend stock?

Fastenal pays an annual dividend of $1.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. W.W. Grainger pays an annual dividend of $8.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Fastenal pays out 77.6% 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 22.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Fastenal has increased its dividend for 25 consecutive years and W.W. Grainger has increased its dividend for 54 consecutive years.

Is FAST or GWW more profitable?

Fastenal has a net margin of 15.44% compared to W.W. Grainger's net margin of 10.80%. W.W. Grainger's return on equity of 51.78% beat Fastenal's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Fastenal	15.44%	33.30%	25.19%
W.W. Grainger	10.80%	51.78%	21.91%

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, FAST or GWW?

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.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Fastenal	$7.35B	6.38	$1.16B	$2.01	40.71
W.W. Grainger	$16.48B	3.48	$1.83B	$36.89	31.94

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in FAST or GWW?

81.4% of Fastenal shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.7% of W.W. Grainger shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.4% of Fastenal shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 9.5% of W.W. Grainger shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in FAST or GWW?

W.W. Grainger received 125 more outperform votes than Fastenal when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 54.11% of users gave Fastenal an outperform vote while only 53.53% of users gave W.W. Grainger an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Fastenal	Outperform Votes 421 54.11%	Underperform Votes 357 45.89%
W.W. Grainger	Outperform Votes 546 53.53%	Underperform Votes 474 46.47%

Which has more volatility and risk, FAST or GWW?

Fastenal has a beta of 0.99, suggesting that its share price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, W.W. Grainger has a beta of 1.15, suggesting that its share price is 15% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts rate FAST or GWW?

Fastenal currently has a consensus target price of $74.80, indicating a potential downside of 8.58%. W.W. Grainger has a consensus target price of $1,109.00, indicating a potential downside of 5.89%. Given W.W. Grainger's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe W.W. Grainger is more favorable than Fastenal.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Fastenal	0 Sell rating(s)	8 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.20
W.W. Grainger	1 Sell rating(s)	10 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.21

Does the media favor FAST or GWW?

In the previous week, W.W. Grainger had 6 more articles in the media than Fastenal. MarketBeat recorded 30 mentions for W.W. Grainger and 24 mentions for Fastenal. W.W. Grainger's average media sentiment score of 1.28 beat Fastenal's score of 1.08 indicating that W.W. Grainger is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Fastenal	19 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
W.W. Grainger	21 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

W.W. Grainger beats Fastenal on 14 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.