Fastenal: Sustainable, Long-Term Attractive, Looking For An Effective Entry Point
Fastenal (FAST) reported earnings 30 days ago. What's next for the stock?
Fastenal has delivered a 444% total return over 10 years, outperforming the S&P 500 and establishing itself as a reliable wealth compounder. FAST demonstrates strong fundamentals with double-digit sales and income growth, high margins, and a robust balance sheet supporting a growing dividend. Digital and managed inventory channels now drive 62% of FAST's sales, deepening customer integration and operational efficiency.
Fastenal (FAST) delivered strong double-digit sales growth and operating margin expansion by targeting larger, high-value customers and expanding contract signings. Despite gross margin contraction, FAST's shift to larger accounts is intentional, trading gross margin for operating leverage and higher-quality recurring revenue. Scenario analysis suggests current valuation requires near-flawless execution; even optimistic forecasts yield only modest total returns unless premium multiples persist.
Fastenal's NASDAQ: FAST second half of 2025 was impacted by macroeconomic headwinds and a downshift in analyst sentiment, which, while painful for investors, has now left its stock price in the buy zone.
The headline numbers for Fastenal (FAST) give insight into how the company performed in the quarter ended December 2025, but it may be worthwhile to compare some of its key metrics to Wall Street estimates and the year-ago actuals.
FAST meets Q4 estimates with solid sales and earnings growth, but the stock is down 5.4% due to margin pressure.
Fastenal Co (NASDAQ:FAST) shares slipped almost 4% on Tuesday morning after the distributor of industrial and construction supplies reported fourth quarter results that met expectations on earnings but slightly missed on revenue. The company posted earnings per share of $0.26, matching analyst forecasts, and revenue of $2.03 billion, just below the $2.04 billion consensus estimate.
Fastenal ( NASDAQ:FAST ) reported fiscal fourth-quarter earnings this morning, posting earnings per share of $0.26 on revenue of $2.03 billion.
Fastenal Company FAST is scheduled to report fourth-quarter 2025 results on Jan. 20, before the opening bell. In the last reported quarter, its earnings per share (EPS) and net sales missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 3.3% and 0.5%, respectively, but grew 11.5% and 11.7%.
Fastenal (FAST) doesn't possess the right combination of the two key ingredients for a likely earnings beat in its upcoming report. Get prepared with the key expectations.
If the headline yield today is not something you're concerned with, and you pay more attention to how fast a yield can grow, then it's worth buying dividend stocks you can forget about for decades.