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Fastenal (FAST) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know
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Fastenal (FAST - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $48.24, moving +0.52% from the previous trading session. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.27%. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.31%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 1%.
Coming into today, shares of the maker of industrial and construction fasteners had gained 10.32% in the past month. In that same time, the Retail-Wholesale sector gained 5.2%, while the S&P 500 gained 5.63%.
Investors will be hoping for strength from FAST as it approaches its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.37, unchanged from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $1.40 billion, up 1.5% from the prior-year quarter.
For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $1.43 per share and revenue of $5.60 billion, which would represent changes of +3.62% and +4.95%, respectively, from the prior year.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for FAST. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.
Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.51% higher. FAST currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
In terms of valuation, FAST is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 33.56. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 17.63, which means FAST is trading at a premium to the group.
Meanwhile, FAST's PEG ratio is currently 3.73. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. Building Products - Retail stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.36 based on yesterday's closing prices.
The Building Products - Retail industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 29, which puts it in the top 12% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.
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Fastenal (FAST) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know
Fastenal (FAST - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $48.24, moving +0.52% from the previous trading session. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.27%. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.31%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 1%.
Coming into today, shares of the maker of industrial and construction fasteners had gained 10.32% in the past month. In that same time, the Retail-Wholesale sector gained 5.2%, while the S&P 500 gained 5.63%.
Investors will be hoping for strength from FAST as it approaches its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.37, unchanged from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $1.40 billion, up 1.5% from the prior-year quarter.
For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $1.43 per share and revenue of $5.60 billion, which would represent changes of +3.62% and +4.95%, respectively, from the prior year.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for FAST. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.
Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.51% higher. FAST currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
In terms of valuation, FAST is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 33.56. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 17.63, which means FAST is trading at a premium to the group.
Meanwhile, FAST's PEG ratio is currently 3.73. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. Building Products - Retail stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.36 based on yesterday's closing prices.
The Building Products - Retail industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 29, which puts it in the top 12% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.