Fastenal (FAST) Rises Yet Lags Behind Market: Some Facts Worth Knowing
In the latest trading session, Fastenal (FAST) closed at $62.36, marking a +0.37% move from the previous day. The stock lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.8%. Meanwhile, the Dow experienced a rise of 0.18%, and the technology-dominated Nasdaq saw an increase of 1.37%.
The maker of industrial and construction fasteners's stock has climbed by 4.84% in the past month, exceeding the Retail-Wholesale sector's gain of 4.14% and the S&P 500's gain of 4.39%.
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 $0.45, indicating a 4.65% growth compared to the equivalent quarter last year. Simultaneously, our latest consensus estimate expects the revenue to be $1.75 billion, showing a 2.96% escalation compared to the year-ago quarter.
In terms of the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates predict earnings of $2 per share and a revenue of $7.33 billion, indicating changes of +5.82% and +5.06%, respectively, from the former year.
Investors should also pay attention to any latest changes in analyst estimates for Fastenal. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. Therefore, positive revisions in estimates convey analysts' confidence in the company's business performance and profit potential.
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, ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), possesses a remarkable history of outdoing, externally audited, with #1 stocks returning an average annual gain of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, there's been no change in the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. 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 31 right now. This signifies a premium in comparison to the average Forward P/E of 11.05 for its industry.
We can additionally observe that FAST currently boasts a PEG ratio of 3.44. The PEG ratio bears resemblance to the frequently used P/E ratio, but this parameter also includes the company's expected earnings growth trajectory. As of the close of trade yesterday, the Building Products - Retail industry held an average PEG ratio of 1.96.
The Building Products - Retail industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. At present, this industry carries a Zacks Industry Rank of 186, placing it within the bottom 27% of over 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.
Keep in mind to rely on Zacks.com to watch all these stock-impacting metrics, and more, in the succeeding trading sessions.
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Fastenal Company (FAST) : Free Stock Analysis Report
