Fastenal (FAST)
Industrials · $57.1B market cap · SEC CIK 0000815556
fundamentals score out of 100
Next reports on Oct 14, 2026, with analysts expecting $0.34 in earnings per share.
The case for FAST
- Earns 34% back on shareholder equity.
- Holds more cash ($277M) than long-term debt ($100M).
- Revenue growing 12.5% year over year.
- Moves less than the market (beta 0.66).
- Current assets cover the near-term bills 4.2 times over.
- Pays a modest 2.3% dividend.
The case against
- Pricey at 42.3× earnings, against a long-run market average nearer 20×.
- Price/sales of 6.5× is higher than 91% of Industrials companies.
- Free-cash-flow yield of 1.8% is lower than 89% of Industrials companies.
What the score is made of
Each factor is half a curve over reported figures and half a rank among the other Industrials companies (momentum is judged against fixed thresholds only), and the five are blended by weight. It describes the last filing and the current price. It is not a forecast.
| Valuewhat you pay for the earnings, sales, assets and cash | 21 |
|---|---|
| Growthhow fast revenue and earnings are moving, this year and over five | 63 |
| Profitabilityhow much of the revenue becomes profit, and how much of that is cash | 78 |
| Momentumhow the price has behaved lately | 67 |
| Stabilityhow violently it moves, what it owes and what it pays you | 89 |
- Each factor except momentum is half fixed thresholds, half rank among the 79 Industrials companies.
Key numbers
| Price / earnings | 42.3× |
|---|---|
| Price / book | 13.55× |
| Price / sales | 6.5× |
| Revenue growth (YoY) | +12.5% |
| EPS growth (YoY) | +13.6% |
| Gross margin | 45% |
| Operating margin | 20% |
| Net margin | 15% |
| Return on equity | 34% |
| Debt / equity | 0.03× |
| Current ratio | 4.18 |
| Dividend yield | 2.30% |
| Beta | 0.66 |
| 52-week range | $38.97 – $52.92 |
| Position in that range | 80% of the way up |
| 3-month return | +8.2% |
| 1-year return | +4.4% |
Five years of financials, as filed
Pulled from Fastenal's XBRL filings on SEC EDGAR. Italic rows are derived from the rows above.
| FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | FY2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $8.2B | $7.5B | $7.3B | $7.0B | $6.0B |
| Gross profit | $3.7B | $3.4B | $3.4B | $3.2B | $2.8B |
| Operating income | $1.7B | $1.5B | $1.5B | $1.5B | $1.2B |
| Net income | $1.3B | $1.2B | $1.2B | $1.1B | $925M |
| Operating cash flow | $1.3B | $1.2B | $1.4B | $941M | $770M |
| Capital expenditure | $245M | $227M | $173M | $174M | $157M |
| Total assets | $5.1B | $4.7B | $4.5B | $4.5B | $4.3B |
| Shareholder equity | $3.9B | $3.6B | $3.3B | $3.2B | $3.0B |
| Cash | $277M | $256M | $221M | $230M | $236M |
| Long-term debt | $100M | $125M | $200M | $353M | $330M |
| Free cash flow | $1.1B | $947M | $1.3B | $767M | $614M |
| Gross margin | 45.0% | 45.1% | 45.7% | 46.1% | 46.2% |
| Operating margin | 20.2% | 20.0% | 20.8% | 20.8% | 20.3% |
| Net margin | 15.3% | 15.2% | 15.7% | 15.6% | 15.4% |
| Diluted shares | 1.2B | 1.1B | 1.1B | 1.2B | 1.2B |
Share count is essentially flat over 4 years. Counts are restated for stock splits so the years compare.
What Fastenal says it does
Note – Information in this section is as of year end unless otherwise noted. The year end is December 31, 2025 unless additional years are included or noted. Overview Fastenal began as a partnership in 1967, and was incorporated under the laws of Minnesota in 1968. We opened our first branch in 1967 in Winona, Minnesota, a city with a population today of approximately 26,000. We began with a marketing strategy of supplying threaded fasteners to customers through a branch network in small, medium, and, in subsequent years, large cities. Over time, how and where we engage our customers has expanded and evolved. Today we sell a broader range of industrial and construction supplies spanning more than nine major product lines through a global network of locations utilizing diverse technologies such as vending devices, bin stock devices, and eBusiness. The large majority of our transactions are business-to-business. We provide additional…
Risk factors FAST lists in its 10-K
- Customer Sites and Sales Segmentation
- References to daily sales rate (DSR) change may reflect either growth (positive) or contraction (negative) for the applicable period
- Holders of the Company's common stock, par value $0.01 per share, at the close of business on May 5, 2025, received one additional share of common stock for every share of common stock they owned
- The stock split took effect at the close of business on May 21, 2025
- Each Site may incorporate one or more service models, including Fastenal Managed Inventory (FMI) programs (FASTStock, FASTBin, FASTVend), integrated supply programs, eBusiness capabilities, and advanced manufacturing services
- We estimate the market could support as many as 1.7 million vending units and, as a result, we anticipate continued growth in installed devices over time