Applied Industrial Technologies vs Fastenal
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The short version
- Fastenal is the larger business, with $8.2B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $5.0B for Applied Industrial Technologies, about 1.7 times as much.
- Fastenal kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (20.2% operating margin, against 11.1%).
- Fastenal turned more of its sales into free cash flow (12.8% FCF margin, against 9.3%).
- Fastenal earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (34.3%, against 20.8%).
| Latest fiscal year | AIT · FY26 | FAST · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $12.0B | $59.7B |
| Revenue | $5.0B | $8.2B |
| Free cash flow | $461M | $1.1B |
| Net income | $415M | $1.3B |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 8.8% | 8.7% |
| 5-year growth | 9.0% | 7.8% |
| Share count change | −2.5% | 0.2% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 30.3% | 45.0% |
| Operating margin | 11.1% | 20.2% |
| Net margin | 8.4% | 15.4% |
| FCF margin | 9.3% | 12.8% |
| Return on capital | 20.8% | 34.3% |
| Return on equity | 22.4% | 33.3% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $135M | −$152M |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 0.2x | −0.1x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $390M | $1.0B |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | — | 42.2x |
| Piotroski F-score | 7 | 7 |
Revenue
FY17
AIT $2.6B
FAST $4.4B
FY18
AIT $3.1B
FAST $5.0B
FY19
AIT $3.5B
FAST $5.3B
FY20
AIT $3.2B
FAST $5.6B
FY21
AIT $3.2B
FAST $6.0B
FY22
AIT $3.8B
FAST $7.0B
FY23
AIT $4.4B
FAST $7.3B
FY24
AIT $4.5B
FAST $7.5B
FY25
AIT $4.6B
FAST $8.2B
FY26
AIT $5.0B
FAST —
AIT
FAST
Operating margin
FY17
AIT 6.8%
FAST 20.1%
FY18
AIT 7.4%
FAST 20.1%
FY19
AIT 6.7%
FAST 19.8%
FY20
AIT 2.7%
FAST 20.2%
FY21
AIT 6.4%
FAST 20.3%
FY22
AIT 9.4%
FAST 20.8%
FY23
AIT 10.7%
FAST 20.8%
FY24
AIT 11.1%
FAST 20.0%
FY25
AIT 10.9%
FAST 20.2%
FY26
AIT 11.1%
FAST —
AIT
FAST
Free cash flow
FY17
AIT $148M
FAST $465M
FY18
AIT $124M
FAST $498M
FY19
AIT $162M
FAST $596M
FY20
AIT $277M
FAST $934M
FY21
AIT $226M
FAST $614M
FY22
AIT $169M
FAST $767M
FY23
AIT $317M
FAST $1.3B
FY24
AIT $347M
FAST $947M
FY25
AIT $465M
FAST $1.1B
FY26
AIT $461M
FAST —
AIT
FAST
Return on capital
FY17
AIT 15.1%
FAST 25.4%
FY18
AIT 11.8%
FAST 30.3%
FY19
AIT 10.0%
FAST 29.3%
FY20
AIT 2.7%
FAST 30.2%
FY21
AIT 11.2%
FAST 30.6%
FY22
AIT 17.7%
FAST 32.8%
FY23
AIT 21.5%
FAST 33.7%
FY24
AIT 21.6%
FAST 33.2%
FY25
AIT 20.3%
FAST 34.3%
FY26
AIT 20.8%
FAST —
AIT
FAST
Each company's latest fiscal year; fiscal years end in different months. The best value in each row is highlighted where higher (or lower) is clearly better. Not investment advice.