MSC Industrial Direct (NYSE:MSM) Upgraded to Overweight at Stephens

MSC Industrial Direct (NYSE:MSM) was upgraded by investment analysts at Stephens from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has a $135.00 price objective on the industrial products company’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $130.00. Stephens‘s target price would indicate a potential upside of 20.13% from the stock’s current price.

MSM has been the subject of several other research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded MSC Industrial Direct from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, July 4th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of MSC Industrial Direct from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 13th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of MSC Industrial Direct from $132.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Barclays started coverage on shares of MSC Industrial Direct in a research report on Tuesday, October 13th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $152.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of MSC Industrial Direct from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 31st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, MSC Industrial Direct currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $129.00.

MSC Industrial Direct Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MSM opened at $112.38 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $6.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.14 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. MSC Industrial Direct has a 52 week low of $78.80 and a 52 week high of $133.95. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $123.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $116.53.

MSC Industrial Direct (NYSE:MSM) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.04. MSC Industrial Direct had a return on equity of 17.34% and a net margin of 5.91%. The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.07 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.09 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that MSC Industrial Direct will post 4.54 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MSC Industrial Direct

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp increased its stake in MSC Industrial Direct by 3.7% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,463,620 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $174,098,000 after acquiring an additional 52,860 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of MSC Industrial Direct by 20.9% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,773,133 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $163,607,000 after purchasing an additional 306,436 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of MSC Industrial Direct by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,357,419 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $125,240,000 after purchasing an additional 14,484 shares in the last quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MSC Industrial Direct by 43.0% during the 1st quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 705,775 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $65,122,000 after purchasing an additional 212,074 shares during the period. Finally, Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of MSC Industrial Direct during the 2nd quarter worth about $49,939,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.26% of the company’s stock.

Key MSC Industrial Direct News

Here are the key news stories impacting MSC Industrial Direct this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Fiscal fourth-quarter net sales rose 10.3% year over year to $1.079 billion, surpassing Wall Street expectations of approximately $1.07 billion. Adjusted diluted EPS was $1.45, ahead of estimates ranging from $1.39 to $1.41. MSC Industrial Supply Co. Reports Fiscal 2026 Fourth Quarter and Full Year Results
• Positive Sentiment: Management expects sales growth to continue into the first quarter, supporting the view that demand for MSC Industrial’s industrial and manufacturing products remains resilient. MSC Industrial Posts Lower Profit In Q4, Sees Sales Growth In Q1
• Neutral Sentiment: Although adjusted earnings improved from $1.09 per share a year earlier, reported diluted EPS was $0.85, compared with $1.01 in the prior-year quarter. This difference reflects the effect of adjustments and makes the headline earnings improvement less favorable than the adjusted figure suggests. MSC Industrial Direct Earnings Report
• Negative Sentiment: Operating income was $72.8 million, or $117.8 million on an adjusted basis, while the reported operating margin was 6.7%. Investors appear focused on margin quality and the gap between reported and adjusted results rather than the sales beat alone. MSC Industrial Sinks Despite Record Sales as CEO Flags Inflationary Headwinds
• Negative Sentiment: CEO remarks about “inflationary headwinds” heightened concerns that higher costs could pressure margins and future earnings. That warning likely outweighed the quarterly beats, contributing to the stock’s decline. MSC Industrial Sinks Despite Record Sales as CEO Flags Inflationary Headwinds

MSC Industrial Direct Company Profile

MSC Industrial Direct Co, Inc is a distributor of metalworking and maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) supplies. The company serves industrial and institutional customers with products used in machining, manufacturing, facility maintenance and workplace safety.

Its offerings include cutting tools, abrasives, tooling and workholding equipment, machinery, safety products, material-handling supplies, janitorial and facility-maintenance products, and other industrial consumables. MSC also provides technical support, inventory-management programs, vending and other supply-chain services designed to help customers manage procurement and production-related needs.

Founded in 1941, MSC serves customers primarily across the United States and Canada through sales representatives, customer service teams, catalogs, distribution operations and digital commerce platforms.