Fastenal shares slide as Q1 results meet expectations but margin pressure and limited upside weigh on sentiment

Fastenal Company (FAST) is down 3.9% today. Here is some analysis on what might have caused this price movement.

Analysis: The stock appears to be trading lower after Fastenal’s first-quarter update landed roughly in line with expectations, while investors focused on ongoing gross-margin pressure and a “nothing new” outlook. Even with solid sales growth and improved operating leverage, commentary and financials pointed to unfavorable price/cost dynamics and other headwinds that can cap near-term upside for a stock that has often traded at a premium valuation.

Details:

Fastenal reported Q1 net sales of about $2.20B, up roughly 12% year over year, with growth attributed to prior customer contract signings, modestly better industrial production, and pricing contribution.

Diluted EPS was $0.30 versus $0.26 a year earlier, while net income was about $339.8M.

Gross margin declined to 44.6% from 45.1%, driven primarily by unfavorable price/cost along with smaller headwinds from transportation and certain customer rebates.

The company reiterated 2026 capital spending expectations of roughly $310M to $330M, reflecting elevated facility, trucking, and IT investment needs, which may have reinforced a more cautious profitability outlook.

Sources:

Fastenal Investor Relations, Associated Press, Investing.com

Disclaimer: This price movement analysis was generated with the help of AI. Please double-check the information provided for mistakes.

$FAST Insider Trading Activity

$FAST insiders have traded $FAST stock on the open market 7 times in the past 6 months. Of those trades, 5 have been purchases and 2 have been sales.

Here’s a breakdown of recent trading of $FAST stock by insiders over the last 6 months:

REYNE K WISECUP sold 36,920 shares for an estimated $1,747,922
SCOTT SATTERLEE sold 15,964 shares for an estimated $705,453
HSENGHUNG SAM HSU has made 2 purchases buying 2,000 shares for an estimated $92,030 and 0 sales.
STEPHEN L. EASTMAN purchased 1,000 shares for an estimated $40,816
DANIEL L. JOHNSON purchased 1,000 shares for an estimated $40,440
SARAH N NIELSEN purchased 1,000 shares for an estimated $39,600

To track insider transactions, check out Quiver Quantitative's insider trading dashboard.

$FAST Hedge Fund Activity

We have seen 574 institutional investors add shares of $FAST stock to their portfolio, and 677 decrease their positions in their most recent quarter.

Here are some of the largest recent moves:

UBS AM, A DISTINCT BUSINESS UNIT OF UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC removed 33,454,231 shares (-74.4%) from their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $1,342,518,290
WELLINGTON MANAGEMENT GROUP LLP added 8,574,208 shares (+243.5%) to their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $344,082,967
ROYAL BANK OF CANADA removed 5,171,598 shares (-38.7%) from their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $207,536,227
FMR LLC removed 4,192,112 shares (-40.8%) from their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $168,229,454
MORGAN STANLEY removed 4,056,334 shares (-16.4%) from their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $162,780,683
MACQUARIE GROUP LTD removed 3,610,261 shares (-93.8%) from their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $144,879,773
BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON CORP removed 3,426,006 shares (-11.0%) from their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $137,485,620

To track hedge funds' stock portfolios, check out Quiver Quantitative's institutional holdings dashboard.

$FAST Government Contracts

We have seen $7,972,474 of award payments to $FAST over the last year.

Here are some of the awards which we have have seen pay out the most over the last year:

VMI TOOL AND FIXTURE MATERIALS: $254,523
TYPE I - VMI HARDWARE: $108,726
HLS MLT FASTENER PR HOIST PLATFORMS: $13,826

To track government contracts to publicy traded companies, check out Quiver Quantitative's government contracts dashboard.

$FAST Analyst Ratings

Wall Street analysts have issued reports on $FAST in the last several months. We have seen 0 firms issue buy ratings on the stock, and 1 firms issue sell ratings.

Here are some recent analyst ratings:

Wolfe Research issued a "Underperform" rating on 11/13/2025

To track analyst ratings and price targets for $FAST, check out Quiver Quantitative's $FAST forecast page.

$FAST Price Targets

Multiple analysts have issued price targets for $FAST recently. We have seen 5 analysts offer price targets for $FAST in the last 6 months, with a median target of $44.0.

Here are some recent targets:

David Manthey from Baird set a target price of $52.0 on 03/06/2026
Guy Hardwick from Barclays set a target price of $44.0 on 03/06/2026
Stephen Volkmann from Jefferies set a target price of $52.0 on 12/15/2025
Ryan Cooke from Wolfe Research set a target price of $43.0 on 11/13/2025
An analyst from Bernstein set a target price of $38.0 on 11/12/2025

This article is not financial advice. See Quiver Quantitative's disclaimers for more information. Note that there may be inaccuracies due to mistakes in ticker-mapping, and other anomalies.