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Distributes metalworking and maintenance/repair (MRO) products to manufacturers, with technical and inventory-management services.
Distributes metalworking and maintenance/repair (MRO) products to manufacturers, with technical and inventory-management services.
A distributor that buys products from tool makers and resells them at a mark-up, adding a service layer of on-site vending machines and stocked-for-you inventory programs at larger plant customers, which keeps orders flowing. Profit depends on factory activity and on holding its pricing against suppliers' costs.
Moat: narrow (distribution, process know-how). Deep metalworking technical expertise and vendor-managed inventory programs create switching costs.
Headquarters: Melville, New York, USA · Founded: 1941 · Employees: 7,028
Size MSC Industrial Direct (MSM) is a United States Industrials company (Wholesale Distributors) with a market value of $6.33B, the 1025th largest of 3,117 United States companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at $113.27 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares gained 8.6%, against +0.1% for the median peer and -1.1% for the United States market (cap-weighted) — 8th highest of 21 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue grew 6.4% over the last twelve months (peer median +4.4%); the operating margin is 9.2% (peer median 9.0%).
Valuation It trades at 20.1× forward earnings against a peer median of 18.4× (9th most expensive of 21).
Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about 9% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +4%, so the hurdle is +5 pp: the price needs faster growth than the company has been delivering — of companies that just grew 25–50% a year, 93.8% slowed down over the next four years.
Capital Return on invested capital runs 6.9 points above its cost of capital (8.7% WACC).
Short interest Short interest is 4.2% of the free float (15 Oct 2026).
Next results Next results expected around 13 Jan 2027 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2026 | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $4.01B | $4.01B | $3.77B | $3.82B | $4.01B |
| Revenue growth | — | +6% | -1% | -5% | — |
| Gross profit | $1.64B | $1.64B | $1.53B | $1.57B | $1.64B |
| EBITDA | $471M | $474M | $404M | $489M | $567M |
| Net income | $223M | $223M | $199M | $259M | $343M |
| Free cash flow | $225M | $225M | $241M | $311M | $607M |
| Capital expenditure | $81.3M | $81.3M | $92.8M | $99.4M | $92.5M |
| Total debt | $528M | $528M | $539M | $568M | $521M |
The default views of Competitor Analysis ▸ Charts, drawn from the same data. Open them in the cockpit to change the axes, pin companies and read every value.
| Company | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MSC Industrial Direct MSM | $6.33B | +9% | +6% | 9% | 20.1× | 9.0% |
| W. W. Grainger GWW | $67.9B | +17% | +9% | 17% | 28.2× | 11.9% |
| Fastenal FAST | $60.8B | +20% | +14% | 21% | 38.3× | 14.2% |
| Applied Industrial Technologies AIT | $10.3B | -8% | +8% | 11% | 23.0× | 8.6% |
Peer set: Industry: the same industry and sector in any market, nearest in size. This is the same default set the interactive Competitor Analysis opens with.
| Measure | MSM | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | -12.1% | +3.7% | 5th lowest of 21 |
| 6-month return | +8.6% | +0.1% | 8th highest of 21 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -15.4% | -15.3% | 11th highest of 21 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | +6.4% | +4.4% | 10th highest of 21 |
| Operating margin | 9.2% | 9.0% | 11th highest of 21 |
| Forward P/E | 20.1× | 18.4× | 9th most expensive of 21 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | 9.0% | 9.2% | 10th least demanding of 19 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +4.3% | +11.3% | 3rd lowest of 18 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | +4.6 pp | -2.4 pp | 5th most demanding of 18 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | +6.9 pp | +1.3 pp | 6th highest of 21 |
| EV / EBITDA | 14.4× | 12.6× | 7th most expensive of 16 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 1.0× | 2.4× | 4th least indebted of 17 |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MSC Industrial Direct MSM | United States | $6.33B | +9% | +6% | 9% | 20.1× | 9.0% | +4.3% |
| Royal Vopak VPK.AS | Netherlands | $6.51B | +14% | +1% | 29% | 15.5× | 8.8% | +1.8% |
| Imcd IMCD.AS | Netherlands | $6.80B | +7% | +3% | 8% | 18.2× | 10.9% | +11.5% |
| MonotaRO 3064.T | Japan | $7.04B | +22% | +19% | 14% | 29.6× | 9.7% | +16.2% |
| Hdhms 443060.KS | South Korea | $5.28B | -39% | +20% | 16% | 23.0× | 3.0% | +14.5% |
| Reece REH.AX | Australia | $7.83B | +44% | +4% | 6% | 35.5× | 24.2% | +8.4% |
| Beijer Ref BEIJ-B.ST | Sweden | $8.09B | +27% | +4% | 10% | 28.0× | 14.0% | +21.4% |
| Finning International FTT.TO | Canada | $8.20B | -9% | 0% | 8% | 17.5× | 10.1% | +11.3% |
| SiteOne Landscape Supply SITE | United States | $4.86B | -7% | +3% | 5% | 24.4× | 18.4% | +11.7% |
| RS Group PLC RS1.L | United Kingdom | $4.85B | +33% | -1% | 8% | 18.6× | 15.1% | +7.5% |
| Groupe Dynamite GRGD.TO | Canada | $4.79B | -33% | +37% | 32% | 17.6× | 22.8% | n/a |
| Addtech ADDT-B.ST | Sweden | $8.66B | -2% | +4% | 13% | 30.7× | 19.3% | +14.9% |
| Core & Main CNM | United States | $8.76B | -6% | -1% | 10% | 14.3× | 5.3% | +16.0% |
| Hotai Motor 2207.TW | Taiwan | $8.90B | +10% | +8% | 11% | 13.2× | 1.5% | +3.9% |
| Rubis SCA RUI.PA | France | $4.10B | 0% | +11% | 7% | 10.3× | 3.1% | +10.9% |
| Brenntag BNR.DE | Germany | $10.0B | 0% | -5% | 5% | 14.5× | 1.9% | +5.2% |
| Zhejiang China Commodities City 600415.SS | China | $10.0B | -7% | +22% | 22% | 14.4× | n/a | n/a |
| Gibson Energy GEI.TO | Canada | $3.87B | +13% | +26% | 3% | 19.5× | 6.4% | +16.7% |
| Applied Industrial Technologies AIT | United States | $10.3B | -8% | +8% | 11% | 23.0× | 8.6% | +8.9% |
| Wuchan Zhongda 600704.SS | China | $3.86B | 0% | +3% | 1% | 7.2× | -2.5% | +8.1% |
| Farsoon Technologies 688433.SS | China | $3.76B | -24% | +52% | 5% | 234.8× | n/a | n/a |