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Fastenal (FAST) Surpasses Market Returns: Some Facts Worth Knowing

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The latest trading session saw Fastenal (FAST - Free Report) ending at $59.97, denoting a +0.55% adjustment from its last day's close. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.38%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 1.47%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.23%.

Heading into today, shares of the maker of industrial and construction fasteners had gained 1.24% over the past month, lagging the Retail-Wholesale sector's gain of 9.93% and the S&P 500's gain of 10.72% in that time.

Investors will be eagerly watching for the performance of Fastenal in its upcoming earnings disclosure. The company is forecasted to report an EPS of $0.45, showcasing a 4.65% upward movement from the corresponding quarter of the prior year. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $1.75 billion, up 2.96% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates project earnings of $2 per share and a revenue of $7.33 billion, demonstrating changes of +5.82% and +5.06%, respectively, from the preceding year.

Investors should also take note of any recent adjustments to analyst estimates for Fastenal. 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.

Empirical research indicates that these revisions in estimates have a direct correlation with impending stock price performance. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.11% higher. Fastenal is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

In terms of valuation, Fastenal is presently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 29.75. This signifies a premium in comparison to the average Forward P/E of 10.86 for its industry.

One should further note that FAST currently holds a PEG ratio of 3.31. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. The Building Products - Retail was holding an average PEG ratio of 1.89 at yesterday's closing price.

The Building Products - Retail industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 210, which puts it in the bottom 17% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank is ordered from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. 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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