Fastenal vs Sherwin Williams
FAST and SHW side by side, both in consumer discretionary. Figures are trailing twelve months unless noted, from SEC filings and end-of-day prices.
How FAST and SHW compare
Sherwin Williams is the larger company, worth 1.4 times as much as Fastenal ($80.7B against $59.6B).
On earnings, Sherwin Williams is cheaper: it trades at 30.7× trailing earnings, against 44.0× for Fastenal.
Fastenal grew revenue faster over the last twelve months (12.5% versus 5.8% for Sherwin Williams).
Fastenal keeps more of each dollar of sales as profit, with a net margin of 15.5% compared with 11.0% at Sherwin Williams.
Both pay dividends: Fastenal yields 1.9% and Sherwin Williams 0.96%.
Key numbers
A dot marks the better figure where higher or lower is clearly better.
| Metric | FAST | SHW |
|---|---|---|
| Size and price | ||
| Market cap | $59.6B | $80.7B |
| Share price | $51.91 | $332.61 |
| Change, 1 year | 26.3% | −3.8% |
| Change, 5 years | 78.3% | 4.3% |
| Beta (5Y) | 0.79 | 0.91 |
| Employees | 24K | 64K |
| StockData Score | ||
| Total score | 15 | 15 |
| Valuation score | 0 | 1 (better) |
| Growth score | 2 | 4 (better) |
| Performance score | 5 | 5 |
| Health score | 6 (better) | 1 |
| Dividend score | 2 | 4 (better) |
| Valuation | ||
| P/E | 44.0× | 30.7× (better) |
| P/S | 6.8× | 3.3× (better) |
| P/B | 14.6× (better) | 20.9× |
| EV/EBITDA | 33.5× | – |
| P/FCF | 51.5× | 25.1× (better) |
| PEG | 9.03 | 3.08 (better) |
| FCF yield | 1.9% | 4.0% (better) |
| Fair value | $27.20 | $233.43 |
| Margin of safety | −90.8% | −42.5% (better) |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth (TTM) | 12.5% (better) | 5.8% |
| Revenue growth, 5Y average | 7.7% (better) | 5.1% |
| Net income growth (TTM) | 13.7% (better) | 5.6% |
| EPS growth (TTM) | 13.5% (better) | 7.6% |
| EPS growth, 5Y average | 7.9% (better) | 6.9% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 44.7% | 49.0% (better) |
| Operating margin | 20.3% | – |
| Net margin | 15.5% (better) | 11.0% |
| FCF margin | 13.2% (better) | 13.2% |
| Return on equity | 34.3% | 65.1% (better) |
| Return on invested capital | 34.7% | – |
| Financial health | ||
| Debt / equity | 0.03 (better) | 3.13 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | −0.05 | – |
| Interest coverage | 394× | – |
| Current ratio | 4.18 (better) | 0.73 |
| Altman Z-score | 33.65 (better) | 2.99 |
| Piotroski F-score | 6 | 6 |
| Dividends and buybacks | ||
| Dividend yield | 1.9% (better) | 0.96% |
| Payout ratio | 78.1% | 29.2% |
| Years of dividend growth | 1 | 16 (better) |
| Dividend growth, 5Y average | 4.6% | 12.1% (better) |
| Buyback yield | – | 3.2% |
| Shareholder yield | 1.9% | 4.2% (better) |
| Ownership | ||
| Held by institutions | 85.5% | 83.1% |
| Held by insiders | 0.11% | 0.32% |
| Insider net buying, 12 months | −$4.8M (better) | −$9.7M |
| Superinvestors holding | 1 | 4 (better) |
| Short interest, % of float | 3.0% | 2.9% |
Go deeper
- FAST stock overview
- FAST income statement
- FAST valuation and score
- SHW stock overview
- SHW income statement
- SHW valuation and score
Other comparisons
For information only, not investment advice. Check the source filings before relying on any figure.