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Fastenal (FAST) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: Here's Why

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Fastenal (FAST - Free Report) ended the recent trading session at $73.01, demonstrating a -0.75% swing from the preceding day's closing price. The stock's performance was behind the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.52%. On the other hand, the Dow registered a gain of 0.12%, and the technology-centric Nasdaq increased by 0.9%.

Heading into today, shares of the maker of industrial and construction fasteners had gained 7.81% over the past month, outpacing the Retail-Wholesale sector's gain of 0.38% and the S&P 500's gain of 3.85% in that time.

Analysts and investors alike will be keeping a close eye on the performance of Fastenal in its upcoming earnings disclosure. It is anticipated that the company will report an EPS of $0.53, marking a 1.92% rise compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $1.92 billion, up 3.06% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $2.15 per share and revenue of $7.79 billion, which would represent changes of +6.44% and +6.02%, respectively, from the prior year.

It is also important to note the recent changes 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.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. To take advantage of this, we've established the Zacks Rank, an exclusive model that considers these estimated changes and delivers an operational rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, spanning from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), boasts an impressive track record of outperformance, audited externally, with #1 ranked stocks yielding an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.47% higher. As of now, Fastenal holds a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Fastenal has a Forward P/E ratio of 34.27 right now. This expresses a premium compared to the average Forward P/E of 14.37 of its industry.

We can additionally observe that FAST currently boasts a PEG ratio of 3.81. 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 industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.74 as trading concluded yesterday.

The Building Products - Retail industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. At present, this industry carries a Zacks Industry Rank of 98, placing it within the top 39% of over 250 industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank evaluates the power of our distinct industry groups by determining the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks forming the 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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