Are Retail-Wholesale Stocks Lagging Fastenal (FAST) This Year?
The Retail-Wholesale group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Fastenal (FAST) is a stock that can certainly grab the attention of many investors, but do its recent returns compare favorably to the sector as a whole? A quick glance at the company's year-to-date performance in comparison to the rest of the Retail-Wholesale sector should help us answer this question.
Fastenal is one of 207 companies in the Retail-Wholesale group. The Retail-Wholesale group currently sits at #9 within the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different groups, measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the sector to gauge the strength of each group.
The Zacks Rank is a successful stock-picking model that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions. The system highlights a number of different stocks that could be poised to outperform the broader market over the next one to three months. Fastenal is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for FAST's full-year earnings has moved 1.2% higher within the past quarter. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.
According to our latest data, FAST has moved about 15.3% on a year-to-date basis. In comparison, Retail-Wholesale companies have returned an average of 1.5%. This means that Fastenal is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.
Another Retail-Wholesale stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is Tecnoglass (TGLS). The stock has returned 9% year-to-date.
For Tecnoglass, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 1.5% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
To break things down more, Fastenal belongs to the Building Products - Retail industry, a group that includes 5 individual companies and currently sits at #165 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 2.9% so far this year, so FAST is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns. Tecnoglass is also part of the same industry.
Investors interested in the Retail-Wholesale sector may want to keep a close eye on Fastenal and Tecnoglass as they attempt to continue their solid performance.
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