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Fastenal Company (FAST) AI Stock Analysis
Fastenal Company
(NASDAQ:FAST)
FAST’s score is driven primarily by strong financial quality (high margins, low leverage, and strong returns/cash generation) and a positive earnings call highlighting share gains, growth, and operating leverage. Technicals are supportive with the stock trading above key moving averages and positive MACD. The primary offset is valuation, with a high P/E limiting the overall score despite a moderate dividend yield.
Fastenal Company Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Revenue By GeographyBreaks down revenue across different regions, revealing where the company is strongest and where it may face risk or growth potential due to local economic conditions or market share shifts.
Revenue expansion is becoming genuinely global rather than U.S.-only: Canada & Mexico and Other regions accelerate into 2025–mid‑2026, signaling share gains and larger customer onboarding that management corroborated via rising daily sales, contract counts and FMI device rollouts. That diversification supports durable top-line and ROIC improvement, but investors should monitor margin mix and working-capital risk—June-driven AR growth and lingering price‑cost headwinds are compressing gross margins even as SG&A leverage helps hold operating margin steady.
The FlyFastenal Company (FAST) vs. SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY)
- Market Cap
- $59.56B
- Dividend Yield
- 1.93%
- Average Volume (3M)
- 7.33M
- Price to Earnings (P/E)
- 41.9
- Beta (1Y)
- 0.50
- Revenue Growth
- 13.53%
- EPS Growth
- 15.58%
- Country
- US
- Employees
- 22,230
- Sector
- Industrials
- Sector Strength
- 63
- Industry
- Industrial - Distribution
Fastenal Company Business Overview & Revenue Model
Company Description
Fastenal Company, along with its associated entities, operates as a global wholesale supplier of industrial and construction materials, with significant operations throughout North America, including the United States, Canada, and Mexico, and other i...
How the Company Makes Money
Fastenal makes money primarily by selling industrial and construction supplies to business customers, earning revenue on the spread between its product procurement costs and the prices charged to customers, with additional contribution from value-add...
Fastenal Company Earnings Call Summary
The call was strongly positive. Fastenal reported robust 15.5% sales growth, roughly 20% growth in operating earnings and earnings per share, record quarterly operating-income growth, margin expansion, higher returns, broad-based share gains, strong digital and FMI adoption, healthy cash generation and continued capital returns. The main challenges were gross-margin pressure from customer mix and price/cost, the fading pricing contribution, timing-related gross-margin benefits, softer September seasonality and weakness in selected end markets. Management nevertheless stated that the strategy was working and that the business continued to gain share and improve efficiency.
Q3-2026 Updates
Positive Updates
Negative Updates
Company Guidance
The company continues to expect 27,000 to 29,000 weighted device signings for the full year and full year '26 net capital spending of $310 million to $330 million; the customer solution is expected over time to generate anywhere between 25% to 30% in overall cost savings. For gross margin, around 60 bps is a good underlying point on a year-over-year basis to consider, with a typical starting point of a 50- to 60-basis-point headwind; the company expects price/cost to continue improving toward neutrality, although it does not provide guidance on a quarterly or annual basis. Internally, the company holds itself accountable for a 10 percentage point top line improvement each and every year, but said that is not a forecast or guidance, and believes incremental operating margin when growing double digits should be in the mid-20s, if not higher, also not guidance.
Fastenal Company Financial Statement Overview
Summary
High-quality fundamentals: strong and stable profitability (TTM operating margin ~20%, net margin ~15%), conservative balance sheet with very low leverage (TTM debt-to-equity ~0.11) and excellent capital efficiency (TTM ROE ~34%, ROIC highlighted at 32.5%). Cash generation is robust (TTM FCF ~$1.05B) with solid cash conversion (~81% of net income), though recent top-line growth has moderated (TTM revenue growth ~3.8%) and free-cash-flow growth has been somewhat uneven.
Income Statement
86Very PositiveBalance Sheet
90Very PositiveCash Flow
82Very Positive| Breakdown | TTM | Dec 2025 | Dec 2024 | Dec 2023 | Dec 2022 | Dec 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Income Statement | ||||||
| Total Revenue | 9.08B | 8.20B | 7.55B | 7.35B | 6.98B | 6.01B |
| Gross Profit | 4.05B | 3.69B | 3.40B | 3.35B | 3.22B | 2.78B |
| EBITDA | 2.05B | 1.84B | 1.69B | 1.71B | 1.63B | 1.39B |
| Net Income | 1.42B | 1.26B | 1.15B | 1.16B | 1.09B | 925.00M |
Balance Sheet | ||||||
| Total Assets | 5.49B | 5.05B | 4.70B | 4.46B | 4.55B | 4.30B |
| Cash, Cash Equivalents and Short-Term Investments | 211.90M | 276.80M | 255.80M | 221.30M | 230.10M | 236.20M |
| Total Debt | 451.70M | 441.90M | 485.40M | 535.00M | 802.10M | 636.80M |
| Total Liabilities | 1.35B | 1.11B | 1.08B | 1.11B | 1.39B | 1.26B |
| Stockholders Equity | 4.15B | 3.94B | 3.62B | 3.35B | 3.16B | 3.04B |
Cash Flow | ||||||
| Free Cash Flow | 1.05B | 1.05B | 946.80M | 1.26B | 767.20M | 613.50M |
| Operating Cash Flow | 1.31B | 1.30B | 1.17B | 1.43B | 941.00M | 770.10M |
| Investing Cash Flow | -250.00M | -231.00M | -214.50M | -161.20M | -163.00M | -148.50M |
| Financing Cash Flow | -1.29B | -1.05B | -913.70M | -1.28B | -774.90M | -627.10M |
Fastenal Company Technical Analysis
Price Trends
Market Momentum
Evaluating momentum and price trends is crucial in stock analysis to make informed investment decisions. For FAST, the sentiment is Positive. The current price of 51.91 is above the 20-day moving average (MA) of 51.21, above the 50-day MA of 50.24, and above the 200-day MA of 46.72, indicating a bullish trend. The MACD of 0.55 indicates Negative momentum. The RSI at 55.80 is Neutral, neither overbought nor oversold. The STOCH value of 57.06 is Neutral, not indicating any strong overbought or oversold conditions. Overall, these indicators collectively point to a Positive sentiment for FAST.
Fastenal Company Risk Analysis
Fastenal Company disclosed 34 risk factors in its most recent earnings report. Fastenal Company reported the most risks in the "Finance & Corporate" category.
Latest Risks Added
0 New RisksFastenal Company Peers Comparison
Overall Rating
- FAST78Outperform
GWW78Outperform
AIT74Outperform
MSM69Neutral
WCC68Neutral
FERG57Neutral
Financial Indicators
| Name | Overall Rating | Market Cap | P/E Ratio | ROE | Dividend Yield | Revenue Growth | EPS Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FAST | 78Outperform | $59.56B | 41.86 | 35.13% | 1.93% | 13.53% | 15.58% |
| GWW | 78Outperform | $64.02B | 34.64 | 48.70% | 0.70% | 7.80% | -0.65% |
| AIT | 74Outperform | $10.74B | 25.73 | 22.68% | 0.68% | 8.45% | 8.52% |
| MSM | 69Neutral | $6.76B | 30.33 | 15.87% | 2.88% | 6.37% | 11.56% |
| WCC | 68Neutral | $16.70B | 21.14 | 15.21% | 0.57% | 13.50% | 26.11% |
| Sector * | 63Neutral | $10.79B | 15.43 | 7.44% | 2.01% | 2.89% | -14.66% |
| FERG | 57Neutral | $46.17B | 22.80 | 34.00% | 1.49% | 8.17% | 37.33% |
* Industrials Sector Average
Performance Comparison
| Show on chart | Ticker | Company Name | Price | Change | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FAST | Fastenal | 51.91 | 11.74 | 29.22% | |
| AIT | Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. | 294.12 | 42.48 | 16.88% | |
| MSM | Msc Industrial Direct | 121.02 | 39.32 | 48.12% | |
| GWW | W.W. Grainger | 1359.17 | 400.77 | 41.82% | |
| WCC | Wesco International | 343.11 | 83.55 | 32.19% | |
| FERG | Ferguson Enterprises Inc. | 238.68 | -5.12 | -2.10% |
Disclaimer
This AI Analyst Stock Report is automatically generated by our AI systems using advanced algorithms and publicly available financial, technical, and market data. While the information provided aims to be accurate and insightful, it is intended for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. Any content created by an AI (Artificial Intelligence) system may contain inaccuracies and/or contain errors. Investing in stocks carries inherent risks, and past performance is not indicative of future results. This report does not account for your personal financial circumstances, objectives, or risk tolerance. Always conduct your own research or consult with a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions. The analysis and recommendations provided are based on historical and current data and may not fully reflect future market conditions or unexpected developments. Neither the creators of this report nor its affiliated entities guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the information presented. Use this report at your own discretion and risk.
Date of analysis: Oct 14, 2026