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Fastenal (FAST) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Fastenal (FAST - Free Report) closed at $48.86, marking a +0.04% move from the previous day. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.22%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.78%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.68%.

Coming into today, shares of the maker of industrial and construction fasteners had gained 4.11% in the past month. In that same time, the Retail-Wholesale sector gained 12.26%, while the S&P 500 gained 9.15%.

FAST will be looking to display strength as it nears 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.

FAST's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $1.45 per share and revenue of $5.60 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +5.07% and +4.95%, respectively.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for FAST should also be noted by investors. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. 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 ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 1.36% higher within the past month. FAST is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Investors should also note FAST's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 33.59. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 18.65, which means FAST is trading at a premium to the group.

It is also worth noting that FAST currently has a PEG ratio of 3.73. 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. FAST's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.22 as of yesterday's close.

The Building Products - Retail industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 28, putting 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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