MSC Industrial Direct (MSM) Competitors $88.48 -1.70 (-1.89%) Closing price 07/15/2025Extended Trading$88.48 0.00 (0.00%) As of 07/15/2025 04:20 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 investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, risk, earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, media sentiment and dividends. Is FAST or MSM a better dividend stock? Fastenal pays an annual dividend of $0.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. MSC Industrial Direct pays an annual dividend of $3.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. 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 increased its dividend for 26 consecutive years and MSC Industrial Direct has increased its dividend for 3 consecutive years. Which has preferable 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$7.77B6.66$1.15B$1.0443.39MSC Industrial Direct$3.74B1.32$258.59M$3.5424.99 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% Do analysts prefer FAST or MSM? Fastenal currently has a consensus target price of $45.64, suggesting a potential upside of 1.12%. MSC Industrial Direct has a consensus target price of $90.33, suggesting a potential upside of 2.09%. Given MSC Industrial Direct's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly 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 Which has more risk & volatility, FAST or MSM? Fastenal has a beta of 0.96, meaning that its share price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, MSC Industrial Direct has a beta of 0.87, meaning that its share price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500. Do insiders & institutionals believe in 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 company insiders. Comparatively, 18.3% of MSC Industrial Direct shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth. Does the media refer more to FAST or MSM? In the previous week, Fastenal had 59 more articles in the media than MSC Industrial Direct. MarketBeat recorded 73 mentions for Fastenal and 14 mentions for MSC Industrial Direct. MSC Industrial Direct's average media sentiment score of 0.92 beat Fastenal's score of 0.64 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 21 Very Positive mention(s) 11 Positive mention(s) 23 Neutral mention(s) 1 Negative mention(s) 1 Very Negative mention(s) Positive MSC Industrial Direct 8 Very Positive mention(s) 1 Positive mention(s) 0 Neutral mention(s) 0 Negative mention(s) 0 Very Negative mention(s) Positive 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$5.02B$17.67B$7.54B$20.84BDividend Yield3.76%2.28%4.55%3.65%P/E Ratio24.9920.5725.0727.17Price / Sales1.324.88114.6648.14Price / Cash14.2413.1627.5622.28Price / Book3.584.034.384.56Net Income$258.59M$608.64M$797.00M$995.22M7 Day Performance-2.49%0.59%0.26%-1.16%1 Month Performance7.81%5.39%4.79%3.18%1 Year Performance5.00%4.71%25.98%6.83% MSC Industrial Direct Competitors List Export to ExcelCompanyMarketRankShare PriceAnalysts' Price Target1Y Price PerformanceMarket CapRevenueP/E RatioEmployee CountIndicator(s)MSMMSC Industrial Direct4.0029 of 5 stars$88.48-1.9%$90.33+2.1%+9.5%$5.02B$3.74B24.997,423FASTFastenal4.2828 of 5 stars$42.64-1.1%$48.80+14.4%+33.1%$49.03B$7.55B42.5223,702Trending NewsEarnings ReportDividend CutAnalyst ForecastOptions VolumeAnalyst RevisionLECOLincoln Electric3.734 of 5 stars$217.53+0.6%$206.40-5.1%+9.5%$12.18B$4.01B26.9012,000Positive NewsAnalyst ForecastAITApplied Industrial Technologies4.6818 of 5 stars$244.24-0.6%$285.00+16.7%+26.4%$9.32B$4.48B24.576,500Positive NewsAnalyst RevisionDCIDonaldson3.8071 of 5 stars$70.71-0.8%$70.00-1.0%-3.9%$8.24B$3.59B23.7414,000DOVDover4.8109 of 5 stars$187.31-0.7%$206.50+10.2%+1.1%$25.73B$7.75B11.3124,000Trending NewsAnalyst ForecastGGGGraco4.1464 of 5 stars$87.85-1.1%$93.00+5.9%+5.2%$14.74B$2.11B31.164,300Positive NewsUpcoming EarningsGWWW.W. Grainger3.5391 of 5 stars$1,040.54-0.9%$1,123.13+7.9%+10.4%$50.04B$17.17B26.7526,000Positive NewsAnalyst RevisionITTITT4.4195 of 5 stars$159.95-0.7%$165.50+3.5%+13.6%$12.62B$3.63B25.4911,700Analyst ForecastITWIllinois Tool Works4.6039 of 5 stars$256.14-0.9%$252.58-1.4%+3.9%$75.27B$15.90B22.5944,000Positive NewsAnalyst ForecastKMTKennametal2.3352 of 5 stars$23.85-2.1%$25.40+6.5%-2.1%$1.82B$2.05B17.218,447 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 7/16/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff From Our PartnersMarket 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 | SponsoredINVESTOR ALERT: Tiny “$3 AI Wonder Stock” on the Verge of Blasting OffRight now, we’re witnessing a monumental shift in the world.Traders Agency | SponsoredWhy Elon is funding the “Quantum Power Grid”Elon knows the future isn’t about smarter AI — it’s about powering it. And this new technology is quietly b...True Market Insiders | SponsoredThe Robotics Revolution has arrived … and one $7 stock could take off as a result.Something big is brewing in Washington. According to my research, an executive order from President Trump c...Weiss Ratings | SponsoredThis Social Security Shift Could Boost Benefits by 400%If you currently collect Social Security—or plan to in the future—this may be one of the most important update...InvestorPlace | SponsoredWhich Gold Miner Trades at 30% of NAV? The One Buffett WantsSome of the world’s best gold developers are trading at just 30% of NAV — like buying a dollar for 30 cents. ...Golden Portfolio | SponsoredEveryone’s watching Nvidia right now. Here’s why I’m excited.So, unless you’ve been living under a rock, you probably saw the news… Nvidia just signed a $7 BILLION deal...Timothy Sykes | SponsoredThe Trump Dump is starting; Get out of stocks now?The first 365 days of the Trump presidency… Will be the best time to get rich in American history.Paradigm Press | Sponsored Adding Choose a watchlist: Watchlist Adding You have already added ten stocks to your watchlist. Upgrade to MarketBeat All Access to add more stocks to your watchlist. Adding MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. Please log in to your account or sign up in order to add this asset to your watchlist. Share MSC Industrial Direct With A Colleague Link copied to clipboard. Get 30 Days of MarketBeat All Access for Free Sign up for MarketBeat All Access to gain access to MarketBeat's full suite of research tools. Start Your 30-Day Trial MarketBeat All Access Features Best-in-Class Portfolio Monitoring Get personalized stock ideas. Compare portfolio to indices. Check stock news, ratings, SEC filings, and more. Stock Ideas and Recommendations See daily stock ideas from top analysts. Receive short-term trading ideas from MarketBeat. Identify trending stocks on social media. Advanced Stock Screeners and Research Tools Use our seven stock screeners to find suitable stocks. Stay informed with MarketBeat's real-time news. Export data to Excel for personal analysis. Sign in to your free account to enjoy these benefits In-depth profiles and analysis for 20,000 public companies. Real-time analyst ratings, insider transactions, earnings data, and more. Our daily ratings and market update email newsletter. Sign in to your free account to enjoy all that MarketBeat has to offer. Sign In Create Account Your Email Address: Email Address Required Your Password: Password Required Log In or Sign in with Facebook Sign in with Google Forgot your password? Your Email Address: Please enter your email address. Please enter a valid email address Choose a Password: Please enter your password. Your password must be at least 8 characters long and contain at least 1 number, 1 letter, and 1 special character. Create My Account (Free) or Sign in with Facebook Sign in with Google By creating a free account, you agree to our terms of service. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Free MSM Stock Alerts