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Fastenal (FAST) Stock Falls Amid Market Uptick: What Investors Need to Know

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The most recent trading session ended with Fastenal (FAST - Free Report) standing at $74.32, reflecting a -0.03% shift from the previouse trading day's closing. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.51%. On the other hand, the Dow registered a gain of 0.2%, and the technology-centric Nasdaq increased by 0.58%.

The maker of industrial and construction fasteners's stock has climbed by 6.99% in the past month, exceeding the Retail-Wholesale sector's gain of 4.13% and the S&P 500's gain of 2.94%.

The investment community will be paying close attention to the earnings performance of Fastenal in its upcoming release. The company is predicted to post an EPS of $0.53, indicating a 1.92% growth compared to the equivalent quarter last year. Simultaneously, our latest consensus estimate expects the revenue to be $1.92 billion, showing a 3.06% escalation compared to the year-ago quarter.

For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates project earnings of $2.15 per share and a revenue of $7.79 billion, demonstrating changes of +6.44% and +6.02%, respectively, from the preceding year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Fastenal should also be noted by investors. Such recent modifications usually signify the changing landscape of near-term business trends. As a result, upbeat changes in estimates indicate analysts' favorable outlook on the company's business health and profitability.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. 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, stretching from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has a noteworthy track record of outperforming, validated by third-party audits, with stocks rated #1 producing an average annual return of +25% since the year 1988. Over the past month, there's been no change in the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. Fastenal presently features a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

With respect to valuation, Fastenal is currently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 34.64. This signifies a premium in comparison to the average Forward P/E of 14.57 for its industry.

Investors should also note that FAST has a PEG ratio of 3.85 right now. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. By the end of yesterday's trading, the Building Products - Retail industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.77.

The Building Products - Retail industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This industry, currently bearing a Zacks Industry Rank of 160, finds itself in the bottom 37% echelons of all 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.

Don't forget to use Zacks.com to keep track of all these stock-moving metrics, and others, in the upcoming trading sessions.


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