In the latest market close, Fastenal (FAST) reached $60.96, with a +0.15% movement compared to the previous day. The stock outperformed the S&P 500, which registered a daily gain of 0.06%. On the other hand, the Dow registered a gain of 0.33%, and the technology-centric Nasdaq decreased by 0.11%.
Coming into today, shares of the maker of industrial and construction fasteners had gained 6.34% in the past month. In that same time, the Retail-Wholesale sector gained 9.34%, while the S&P 500 gained 8.22%.
The investment community will be paying close attention to the earnings performance of Fastenal in its upcoming release. In that report, analysts expect Fastenal to post earnings of $0.45 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 4.65%. In the meantime, our current consensus estimate forecasts the revenue to be $1.75 billion, indicating a 2.96% growth compared to the corresponding quarter of the prior year.
In terms of the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates predict earnings of $2 per share and a revenue of $7.33 billion, indicating changes of +5.82% and +5.06%, respectively, from the former year.
Additionally, investors should keep an eye on any recent revisions to analyst forecasts for Fastenal. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. Hence, positive alterations in estimates signify analyst optimism regarding the company’s business and profitability.
Empirical research indicates that these revisions in estimates have a direct correlation with impending stock price performance. 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 varies between #1 (Strong Buy) and #5 (Strong Sell), carries an impressive track record of exceeding expectations, confirmed by external audits, with stocks at #1 delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.22% higher. Currently, Fastenal is carrying a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
In the context of valuation, Fastenal is at present trading with a Forward P/E ratio of 30.37. This denotes a premium relative to the industry’s average Forward P/E of 11.2.
Also, we should mention that FAST has a PEG ratio of 3.37. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company’s expected earnings growth rate. The average PEG ratio for the Building Products – Retail industry stood at 1.9 at the close of the market yesterday.
The Building Products – Retail industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. At present, this industry carries a Zacks Industry Rank of 209, placing it within the bottom 18% of over 250 industries.
The strength of our individual industry groups is measured by the Zacks Industry Rank, which is calculated based on the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within these groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Be sure to use Zacks.com to monitor all these stock-influencing metrics, and more, throughout the forthcoming trading sessions.
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Fastenal Company (FAST) : Free Stock Analysis Report
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