Forensic Analysis · Retail / Consumer Discretionary · as of Aug 8, 2026

Fastenal Co (FAST)

A forensic read on Fastenal Co built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.

A · High-quality compounder

Forensic grade

Safe

Financial health

20.9

Distress distance

Clean

Earnings quality

Forensic signals

43.4

P / E (ttm)

31.9%

ROE

$58.3B

Market cap

2.05%

Dividend yield

8.7%

Revenue growth

This free snapshot doesn't read filing or proxy text, so the auditor-quality and governance checks that can lower a grade were not evaluated (red flags, auditor quality, say on pay, board independence). Those checks only ever lower a grade, so the full analysis can land below the grade above but never above it — treat it as the most favourable reading, not the settled one.

Fastenal Co earns an A (High-quality compounder) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 20.9, placing it in the Safe zone. 2 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by share count (stock split).

What the filings flag

n/m (stock split)

FY2022–FY2025

Share count (stock split). Diluted share count changed +100% over the last 3 years to FY2025, but that includes a large one-time change around FY2023 consistent with a stock split or reverse split, not gradual buybacks or issuance — a split changes the count with NO effect on any holder's proportional ownership, so the raw +26.0%/yr figure isn't a real buyback/dilution read here.

96% of FCF

FY2025

Shareholder returns. Returned $1.0B to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2025 — 96% of free cash flow. Right at the limit of what free cash flow covers — little room before it's funded by debt or the balance sheet. That ratio has actually been EASING, not tightening further — down from ~124% of free cash flow a few years back. Counting the $8M of stock-based comp paid out in shares on top of that, the combined claim on free cash flow is 96%.

Key fundamentals

Latest Revenue$8.20B

Revenue Growth YoY+8.7%

Revenue CAGR (3yr)+5.5%

Net Margin15.3%

Free Cash Flow$1.05B

Return on Equity31.9%

Debt / Equity0.03x

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Data from SEC EDGAR public filings · metrics as of Aug 8, 2026. Forensic signals flag probability, not certainty.