Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Is Fastenal (FAST) Stock Outpacing Its Retail-Wholesale Peers This Year?

Read MoreHide Full Article

Investors interested in Retail-Wholesale stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Is Fastenal (FAST - Free Report) one of those stocks right now? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Fastenal is one of 218 companies in the Retail-Wholesale group. The Retail-Wholesale group currently sits at #12 within the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank includes 16 different groups and is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors.

The Zacks Rank is a proven model that highlights a variety of stocks with the right characteristics to outperform the market over the next one to three months. The system emphasizes earnings estimate revisions and favors companies with improving earnings outlooks. Fastenal is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for FAST's full-year earnings has moved 1.2% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.

Based on the latest available data, FAST has gained about 8.6% so far this year. Meanwhile, the Retail-Wholesale sector has returned an average of 5.6% on a year-to-date basis. This means that Fastenal is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

Another stock in the Retail-Wholesale sector, MercadoLibre (MELI - Free Report) , has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 10.6%.

Over the past three months, MercadoLibre's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 5.4%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Fastenal belongs to the Building Products - Retail industry, which includes 8 individual stocks and currently sits at #80 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 4.9% this year, meaning that FAST is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

In contrast, MercadoLibre falls under the Internet - Commerce industry. Currently, this industry has 40 stocks and is ranked #92. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved +6.3%.

Fastenal and MercadoLibre could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Retail-Wholesale stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.


See More Zacks Research for These Tickers


Normally $25 each - click below to receive one report FREE:


Fastenal Company (FAST) - free report >>

MercadoLibre, Inc. (MELI) - free report >>

Published in