W.W. Grainger (GWW) Competitors

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

Is FAST or GWW more profitable?

Fastenal has a net margin of 15.25% compared to W.W. Grainger's net margin of 11.12%. W.W. Grainger's return on equity of 52.43% beat Fastenal's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Fastenal	15.25%	32.55%	24.78%
W.W. Grainger	11.12%	52.43%	22.15%

Does the media refer more to FAST or GWW?

In the previous week, Fastenal had 7 more articles in the media than W.W. Grainger. MarketBeat recorded 25 mentions for Fastenal and 18 mentions for W.W. Grainger. W.W. Grainger's average media sentiment score of 1.60 beat Fastenal's score of 1.44 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	20 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
W.W. Grainger	17 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Do analysts rate FAST or GWW?

Fastenal currently has a consensus price target of $76.91, suggesting a potential downside of 0.23%. W.W. Grainger has a consensus price target of $1,151.50, suggesting a potential upside of 16.38%. Given W.W. Grainger's stronger consensus rating and higher probable 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	2 Sell rating(s)	8 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
W.W. Grainger	1 Sell rating(s)	9 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.29

Which has higher earnings & 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	$7.55B	5.86	$1.15B	$2.01	38.35
W.W. Grainger	$17.17B	2.78	$1.91B	$38.71	25.56

Is FAST or GWW a better dividend stock?

Fastenal pays an annual dividend of $1.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. W.W. Grainger pays an annual dividend of $8.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. Fastenal pays out 85.6% 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 21.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Fastenal has raised its dividend for 26 consecutive years and W.W. Grainger has raised its dividend for 54 consecutive years.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer FAST or GWW?

W.W. Grainger received 125 more outperform votes than Fastenal when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 53.76% of users gave Fastenal an outperform vote while only 53.42% of users gave W.W. Grainger an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Fastenal	Outperform Votes 422 53.76%	Underperform Votes 363 46.24%
W.W. Grainger	Outperform Votes 547 53.42%	Underperform Votes 477 46.58%

Do insiders & institutionals hold more shares of 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, 6.1% of W.W. Grainger shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more risk and volatility, FAST or GWW?

Fastenal has a beta of 1.05, suggesting that its stock price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, W.W. Grainger has a beta of 1.18, suggesting that its stock price is 18% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

W.W. Grainger beats Fastenal on 14 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.