Key Points
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Fastenal’s simple business model has created enormous shareholder wealth.
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Dividends added even more to Fastenal’s long-term returns.
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Patient investors have been rewarded for nearly four decades.
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A $10,000 investment in Fastenal (NASDAQ: FAST) at its 1987 initial public offering (IPO) would be worth roughly $21.5 million today. And that doesn’t include dividends.
Fastenal went public on Aug. 20, 1987, at $9 per share. The company says a $9,000 IPO investment bought 1,000 shares. After nine stock splits, those shares became 384,000 by the end of 2025, worth about $15.4 million. Scale that investment to $10,000, and you could have purchased 1,111 whole shares for $9,999. After those splits, you’d own 426,624 shares.
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At Fastenal’s Sept. 25, 2026, closing price of $50.43, that stake would be worth approximately $21.5 million. Not bad for a company best known for selling nuts, bolts, screws, safety equipment, and other industrial supplies.
Nearly four decades of growth
Fastenal had roughly 50 stores and about $20 million in annual sales around the time of its IPO. Today, it’s an $8 billion industrial distribution giant.
Revenue reached $8.2 billion in 2025, while net income came in at nearly $1.26 billion. And growth hasn’t stopped. Second-quarter 2026 sales increased 14.7% year over year to $2.39 billion, while net income jumped 15.9% to $382.8 million.
Fastenal has also expanded beyond its traditional store model by placing inventory and vending systems directly inside customer facilities, making it harder for competitors to displace the company once those relationships are established.
Then there are the dividends. Fastenal began paying dividends in 1991 and now pays them quarterly. So anyone who bought 1,000 shares at the IPO would have collected more than $2.9 million in dividends through the end of 2025 on top of the massive stock appreciation.
Turning $10,000 into more than $21 million didn’t require finding the next revolutionary technology company. Fastenal did it by selling basic industrial products, expanding consistently, and compounding shareholder wealth for nearly four decades. Indeed, this is a lesson for those who write off these types of industrial stocks as “boring.” In other words, don’t sleep on “boring industrial stocks.”
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Jeff Siegel has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Fastenal. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
