Fastenal (FAST)

Industrials · $62.1B market cap · SEC CIK 0000815556

Next reports on Jan 19, 2027, after the close, with analysts expecting $0.31 in earnings per share.

52-week range $38.97 to $54.99. At its 52-week high and 41% above its low.

The case for FAST

• Earns 35% back on shareholder equity.
• Holds more cash ($277M) than long-term debt ($100M).
• Revenue growing 13.5% year over year.
• Moves less than the market (beta 0.64).
• Current assets cover the near-term bills 3.9 times over.
• Pays a modest 2.3% dividend.

The case against

• Expensive for its growth: 43.8× earnings, where 10% a year of growth plus a 2.3% dividend would justify about 26×.
• Price/sales of 6.8× is higher than 95% of Industrials companies.
• Free-cash-flow yield of 1.7% is lower than 92% 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. The score is where that blend places it in the S&P 500. It describes the last filing and the current price. It is not a forecast.

• Each factor except momentum is half fixed thresholds, half rank among the 79 Industrials companies.

The financials

The financials, five years deep

Pulled from Fastenal's XBRL filings on SEC EDGAR. Italic rows are worked out from the others.

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

• Products that we sell may expose us to potential material liability for property damage, environmental damage, personal injury, or death linked to the use of those products by our customers
• We may not be successful in adopting and integrating emerging technologies
• The ability to adequately protect our intellectual property or successfully defend against infringement claims by others may have an adverse impact on operations
• Our ability to successfully attract, develop, and retain qualified personnel to staff our selling locations could impact labor costs, sales at existing selling locations, and the successful execution of our growth drivers
• Our SG&A expenses could grow more rapidly than net sales, which could result in failure to achieve our goals related to leveraging sales growth into higher net income
• Our inability to attract or transition key executive officers may divert the attention of other members of our senior leadership and adversely impact our existing operations
• We may be affected by global climate change or legal, tax, regulatory, or market responses to such change
• We may be unable to meet our goals regarding the growth drivers of our business
• The ability to identify new products and product lines, and integrate them into our selling efforts and distribution network, may impact our ability to compete, our ability to generate additional sales, and our profit margins
• The ability to adequately protect our reputation may have an adverse impact on operations and profitability
• We may not be able to compete effectively against traditional or non-traditional competitors, which could cause us to lose market share or erode our gross and/or operating income profit and/or percentage
• We may not be successful in integrating acquisitions and achieving intended benefits and synergies
• Our stock price will fluctuate, and at times these fluctuations may be volatile
• There can be no assurance that our stock price will continue to reflect the current multiple of income over time
• We cannot provide any guaranty of future dividend payments or that we will continue to purchase shares of our common stock pursuant to our share purchase program
• Products manufactured in foreign countries may cease to be available, which could adversely affect our inventory levels and operating results
• A downturn in the economy or in the principal markets served by us and other factors may affect customer spending, which could harm our operating results
• Trade policies could make sourcing product from overseas more difficult and/or more costly, and could adversely impact our gross and/or operating profit percentage
• We are exposed to foreign currency exchange rate risk, and changes in foreign exchange rates could increase the cost of purchasing products and impact our foreign sales
• Our current estimates of total market potential as well as the market potential of our business strategies could be incorrect
• The industrial, construction, and maintenance supply industry is consolidating, which could cause it to become more competitive and could negatively impact our market share, gross profit, and operating income
• The occurrence of a widespread public health crisis could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, and financial condition
• Inclement weather and other disruptions to the transportation network could adversely impact our distribution system and demand for our products
• Failure to maintain an effective system of internal controls over business processes and/or financial reporting could materially impact our business and results
• Tax laws and regulations require compliance efforts that can increase our cost of doing business and changes to these laws and regulations could impact financial results
• Changes in accounting standards and subjective assumptions, estimates, and judgments by management related to complex accounting matters could significantly affect our financial results or financial condition
• We are subject to litigation risk due to the nature of our business, which may have a material adverse effect on our business
• Tight credit markets could impact our ability to obtain financing on reasonable terms or increase the cost of existing or future financing and interest rate fluctuations could adversely impact our results

Filings

Other Industrials companies