Declining Gross Margins Pressure Fastenal Stock Lower

FAST has chart support emerging at $50 though

Fernanda Horner

Digital Content Manager

Apr 13, 2023 at 10:19 AM

FAST

Fastenal Co (NASDAQ:FAST) stock was last seen down 3.4% at $50.78, brushing off a first-quarter earnings and revenue beat. Instead, what's weighing on the industrial giant are gross margins, down 45.7% from 46.6% a year ago.

The $50 level and 200-day moving average are acting in unison to contain today's pullback as they have done several times since a late-January post-earnings bull gap. Year-to-date, FAST still sports a 7.5% lead, but has shed nearly 14% in the past 12 months.

Options traders are chiming in, with 1,263 calls and 1,199 puts exchanged, volume that's 14 times the average intraday amount. Most popular is the May 47.50 put, followed by the April 52.40 call.

Over at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), Fastenal stock's 50-day call/put volume ratio of 1.85 ranks higher than all but 1% of annual readings. In simpler terms, long calls have been getting picked up at a quicker-than-usual clip.

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