Investors interested in Industrial Products stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Is Fastenal (FAST) one of those stocks right now? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.
Fastenal is a member of our Industrial Products group, which includes 189 different companies and currently sits at #3 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank gauges the strength of our 16 individual sector groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups.
The Zacks Rank is a proven system that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions, highlighting a variety of stocks that are displaying the right characteristics to beat the market over the next one to three months. Fastenal is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for FAST's full-year earnings has moved 2.4% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.
Based on the latest available data, FAST has gained about 36.7% so far this year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Industrial Products group have gained about 5.7% on average. As we can see, Fastenal is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.
Another Industrial Products stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is Gorman-Rupp (GRC). The stock has returned 8.7% year-to-date.
Over the past three months, Gorman-Rupp's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 2.5%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Looking more specifically, Fastenal belongs to the Industrial Services industry, which includes 18 individual stocks and currently sits at #45 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 9.4% so far this year, so FAST is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.
Gorman-Rupp, however, belongs to the Manufacturing - General Industrial industry. Currently, this 41-stock industry is ranked #48. The industry has moved +5.9% so far this year.
Going forward, investors interested in Industrial Products stocks should continue to pay close attention to Fastenal and Gorman-Rupp as they could maintain their solid performance.
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Fastenal Company (FAST): Free Stock Analysis Report Gorman-Rupp Company (The) (GRC): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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