FASTENAL CO vs THE SHERWIN-WILLIAMS COMPANY, two Retail stocks. A side-by-side on valuation, growth, margins, returns, and what each price is betting.
Where FAST and SHW diverge most: on debt / equity, FAST reads 0.05 and SHW reads 3.13; on ev/ebitda, FAST reads 28.1 and SHW reads 253.0. The rest of the comparable metrics sit closer together. On valuation, today's FAST price has a different growth bar priced in than SHW (+28.8% implied for FAST vs +10.1% for SHW); the higher figure is the steeper assumption to clear, not a better or worse stock. What FAST's price implies is a demanding bet versus history and the cohort (whole-company basis). What SHW's price implies is a bet that sits within the historical range (whole-company basis). The bull and bear cases for each are in their full reports below.
| Metric | FAST | SHW |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $47.72 | $340.76 |
| Market cap | $54.9B | $83.8B |
| Sector | Retail | Retail |
| Stage | Growth | Mature |
| Implied growth (priced in) | +28.8% | +10.1% |
| P/E | 32.7 | 31.4 |
| P/B | 13.49 | 21.75 |
| P/S | 6.27 | 3.43 |
| EV/EBITDA | 28.1 | 253.0 |
| Revenue growth | +12.5% | +5.8% |
| Gross margin | 44.6% | 49.2% |
| Operating margin | 21.0% | — |
| Net margin | 15.4% | 11.0% |
| Return on equity | 33.2% | 69.7% |
| Return on assets | 25.5% | 10.0% |
| Return on invested capital | 31.8% | — |
| FCF yield | 2.1% | 3.8% |
| Dividend yield | 1.8% | 0.9% |
| Debt / equity | 0.05 | 3.13 |
| Current ratio | 4.18 | 0.73 |
| Altman Z (solvency) | 9.67 | 6.89 |
| Piotroski F (quality) | 5 / 9 | 7 / 9 |
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The stronger value is highlighted per metric where one is strictly better on that single number; it is not an overall verdict on either company. For informational and research purposes only. Not investment advice. Not a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security. boothcheck is not a registered investment adviser. Past performance does not guarantee future results.