Fastenal began as an industrial retailer, expanding its product portfolio from nuts and bolts to cutting tools, safety equipment, and janitorial supplies. It transitioned into a distributor by building out a dense network of branches close to its business customers. Once a customer becomes large enough, Fastenal installs vending machines and its own personnel on-site. Today, these on-site locations exceed Fastenal’s branch count and remain the firm’s main focus for expansion. Fastenal acts as a one-stop outsourcing partner for its industrial customers, offering value-added services along with a wide breadth of maintenance, repair, and operations supplies.

Fastenal began as an industrial retailer, expanding its product portfolio from nuts and bolts to cutting tools, safety equipment, and janitorial supplies. It transitioned into a distributor by building out a dense network of branches close to its business customers. Once a customer becomes large enough, Fastenal installs vending machines and its own personnel on-site. Today, these on-site locations exceed Fastenal’s branch count and remain the firm’s main focus for expansion. Fastenal acts as a one-stop outsourcing partner for its industrial customers, offering value-added services along with a wide breadth of maintenance, repair, and operations supplies.

Fastenal Co. sells industrial and construction supplies, including fasteners, at approximately 1,600 stores and 1,800 onsite locations, as well as through vending machines at customer locations and through e-commerce channels. Most of the company's customers are in the manufacturing and nonresidential construction markets. Headquartered in Winona, MN, the company has over 20,000 employees and its shares are a component of the S&P 500.

Last week, we reported on a significant move to bullish in the weekly insider-sentiment data provided by Vickers Stock Research. So was that positive turn of events maintained this week? Not as aggressively, but the short-term data is still positive and the long-term trends are still improving. The NYSE One-Week Sell/Buy Ratio from Vickers is bullish for a second week. Meanwhile, the Total (all exchanges) and Nasdaq One-Week Sell/Buy Ratios have both moved back into neutral territory from bullish territory last week. But the readings are at the low end of the neutral range that runs from 2.00 to 6.00 (with anything below 2.00 bullish). And, importantly, the overall one-week sentiment is strong enough to allow the eight-week sentiment to continue improving. Vickers' NYSE Eight-Week Sell/Buy Ratio is now 2.41, improved from 2.75 last week; the Nasdaq Eight-Week Sell/Buy Ratio is now 3.35, from 3.51 last week; and the Total Eight-Week Sell/Buy Ratio is now 2.83, from 3.10 last week. Of note, insider-transaction volume has now fallen to the low levels that are always seen during earnings season, and will stay that way for the next several weeks. On a sector basis, insider buying exceeded selling in Consumer Discretionary last week, with shares valued at $10 million bought versus $6 million sold. Buying also outpaced selling in Healthcare, as shares valued at $2.4 million were bought versus $0.7 million sold. Selling was the greatest in Information Technology over the last week, with shares valued at $22 million sold versus just $39,700 bought. Selling was also notable in Financial, Consumer Staples, and Industrials. This week, analysts at Vickers highlighted insider transactions of interest at Calavo Growers Inc. (NGS: CVGW) and Dollar Tree Inc. (NGS: DLTR).