FAST vs CHTR Comparison

Fastenal opened its first fastener store in 1967 in Winona, Minnesota. Since then, it has greatly expanded its footprint as well as its products and services. Today, Fastenal serves its 400,000 active customers through approximately 1,600 branches, over 2,000 on-site locations, and 15 distribution centers. Since 1993, the company has added other product categories, but fasteners remain its largest category at about 30%-35% of sales. Fastenal also offers customers supply chain solutions, such as vending and vendor-managed inventory.

Charter is the product of the 2016 merger of three cable companies, each with a decades-long history in the business: Legacy Charter, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House Networks. The firm now holds networks capable of providing television, internet access, and phone services to roughly 57 million US homes and businesses, around 35% of the country. Across this footprint, Charter serves 29 million residential and 2 million commercial customer accounts under the Spectrum brand, making it the second-largest US cable company behind Comcast. The firm also owns, in whole or in part, sports and news networks, including Spectrum SportsNet (long-term local rights to Los Angeles Lakers games), SportsNet LA (Los Angeles Dodgers), SportsNet New York (New York Mets), and Spectrum News NY1.