TacticScaleWhat Fastenal Does & How It Makes Money (FAST)
Updated October 2026 · reflects Fastenal's latest reported financials
Wholesale distributor of fasteners and industrial and construction supplies. Fastenal buys fasteners and related supplies in bulk and resells them wholesale under the Fastenal name.
How Fastenal makes money
Fastenal buys fasteners and related supplies in bulk and resells them wholesale under the Fastenal name. It earns the margin on sales to manufacturers, maintenance and repair buyers, construction firms and government customers.
What Fastenal does
Fastenal Company is a wholesale distributor of industrial and construction supplies, and fasteners are its core product line. Its products include threaded fasteners such as bolts, nuts, screws, studs and washers, used in manufactured products, construction projects and machine repair. It also sells pins, machinery keys, concrete anchors, metal framing systems, wire rope, strut products and rivets under the Fastenal name. Its customers cover a wide range of industries: original equipment manufacturers, maintenance and repair (MRO) buyers, non-residential construction, agriculture, transportation, railroads, mining, schools, retail trades, oil and gas, and federal, state and local government. Fastenal was founded in 1967, is headquartered in Winona, Minnesota, and operates in the US, Canada, Mexico and other international markets.
Products & services
- Threaded fasteners (bolts, nuts, screws, studs, washers)
- Concrete anchors
- Metal framing and strut systems
- Wire rope and rivets
- Pins and machinery keys
- MRO (maintenance, repair and operations) supplies
What is Fastenal worth?
On an owner-earnings DCF, Fastenal's most-likely value is about $23 versus a recent price near $51 (55% above fair value). But TacticScale only calls a stock undervalued when the price sits below its conservative no-growth floor (~$10) with a margin of safety — so the honest verdict here is “Fairly priced — no edge.” Fair value earns its keep only at the extremes, not in the wide middle.
Price sits in the normal range — fair value isn't actionable here; it earns its keep only when price drops below the no-growth floor, or runs to roughly double the optimistic case.
Analysis, not advice. Fair value is a margin-of-safety estimate from a deterministic owner-earnings DCF, not a price target or recommendation. See the full breakdown →
Related companies
Essence Fastening Systems (Shanghai) (301005.SZ) · Stanley Black & Decker (SWK) · MSC Industrial Direct (MSM) · W.W. Grainger (GWW) · Fabrinet (FN)