# How W.W. Grainger (GWW) compares with the whole market and its popular alternatives

> Source: BetterThanSPY research, https://betterthanspy.com/research/gww
> Data as of October 22, 2026. Total returns include reinvested dividends. Past performance does not predict future results; nothing here is investment advice.

Built by QuantCommons' quantitative engine, this page is about relative opportunity, not data on GWW alone. It places GWW (W.W. Grainger, Inc.) against 19 popular alternatives, its neighboring categories and the entire market of over 10,000 U.S.-listed stocks and ETFs, and surfaces what has done better on consistent outperformance, return for the risk taken, behavior in real market crashes and diversification. The result is a clearer view of where GWW stands in the market, and of the alternatives worth a closer look.

Period covered: GWW's full trading record, from October 1986 through September 2026. All returns include reinvested dividends. Data as of October 22, 2026.

## Key findings

- **Right now:** GWW has outpaced the market, rising 18.3% over the past 6 months against 8.0% for the S&P 500 and 7.8% for the Nasdaq 100. Not every peer went the same way. Over the past 6 months, GIC (Global Industrial) rose 38.3% and WSO (Watsco) fell 22.9%.
- **Stock or market?:** GWW held up far better than its industry: it rose 0.6% over the past 3 months while the industrial distribution ETF XLI (State Street Industrial Select Sector SPDR ETF) fell 6.5%. The S&P 500 rose 2.5%. Its industrial distribution peers did not move as one over the past 3 months: GIC (Global Industrial) rose 30.1%, while WSO (Watsco) fell 8.7%.
- **Past 1 to 3 years:** Over the past year, GWW rose 41.7% against 15.6% for the S&P 500 and 16.9% for the Nasdaq 100. The same gap shows up over 3 years (103% against 88.4%).
- **Long term:** GWW turned $10,000 into $77,000 over the past decade, against $41,600 in the S&P 500. GWW's 10-year return of 670% puts it ahead of 91% of the stocks worth at least $300 million with that much history. The S&P 500 returned 316%.
- **In a crash:** In the 2022 bear market, GWW held up better than its industrial distribution peers, including FAST (Fastenal), FERG and WCC.
- **Diversification:** Against the S&P 500, GWW has a correlation of 0.61 over 5 years, more closely than 91% of stocks worth at least $300 million. Next to an index fund it is more of the same, not a cushion.
- **Better options**
  - **Popular alternatives:** URI (United Rentals) was ahead of GWW in most short and long periods, though with much bigger swings (39.1% volatility against 24.9%).
  - **Whole market:** Nothing in the whole market did better on both counts: none of the 3,641 stocks and funds worth at least $500 million earned more than GWW with less volatility over the past 5 years.

## How much would $10,000 in GWW have grown?

This chart tracks a hypothetical $10,000 investment in GWW over the past 29 years, with dividends reinvested, alongside the same amount in the S&P 500, investments that ended ahead of GWW over the same span and GWW's popular alternatives, among those that traded for the entire period.

- $10,000 invested in GWW at the end of September 1997 would have grown to $444,276 by September 2026, more than the $132,907 it would have become in SPY, an S&P 500 fund.
- Five of the eight other investments on the chart ended ahead of GWW, and AAPL finished highest, at $20,534,853.

## GWW at a glance

This section summarizes the key facts about the stock, its returns over periods from one to ten years and the risk it has carried, with dividends reinvested throughout.

- GWW's deepest decline since it began trading in 1986 was 56.7%, from June 1999 to October 2000. It took 16 months from the low to climb back to its old high.
- Over 29 full calendar years, GWW's best was 2023, when it returned 50.5%, and its worst was 2000, when it lost 22.3%. It lost money in seven of those years.
- GWW is 2.8% below its all-time high.

- Type: Stock, Industrials (Industrial - Distribution)
- Trading since: October 17, 1986
- Market value: $64B
- Volatility (5 years): 24.9%; Sharpe ratio: 1.08
- Worst decline ever: −56.7%, from June 17, 1999 to October 17, 2000; back at its high by February 25, 2002

| Period | GWW total return |
| --- | --- |
| 1 month | +7.2% |
| 3 months | +0.6% |
| 6 months | +18.3% |
| year to date | +36.3% |
| 1 year | +41.7% |
| 3 years | +103% |
| 5 years | +227% |
| 10 years | +670% |

## GWW against the whole market

Where GWW ranks among every stock and fund, and what across the market has done better.

### How does GWW rank among all stocks?

This section ranks GWW on return, volatility, risk-adjusted return and worst decline against every stock worth at least $300 million with enough history.

- On return for the risk taken (the Sharpe ratio), GWW ranks in the top 2% of the 2,897 stocks worth at least $300 million.

| Measure | GWW | Rank |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1-year return | +41.7% | 710 of 3,282 (top 22%) |
| 3-year return | +103% | 911 of 3,016 (top 31%) |
| 5-year return | +227% | 258 of 2,897 (top 9%) |
| 10-year return | +670% | 198 of 2,201 (top 9%) |
| Volatility, 5 years | 24.9% | 313 of 2,897 (top 11%) |
| Sharpe ratio, 5 years | 1.08 | 58 of 2,897 (top 3%) |
| Worst decline, past 10 years | −41.6% | 191 of 2,184 (top 9%) |

### What has beaten GWW on both return and risk?

Each dot is an investment, placed by how much it earned a year over the past 5 years (higher is better) and how much its price swung, its volatility (further left is calmer).

- None of the 3,641 stocks and funds worth at least $500 million earned more than GWW over the past 5 years with less volatility: nothing sits in the green region.

### Is there a better investment than GWW?

The table below lists investments that beat GWW over the past 5 years on at least one of these measures: a higher annual return with lower volatility, a higher annual return at similar volatility, a similar return with lower volatility, a higher Sharpe ratio with a smaller worst decline, a higher total return in most periods from 3 months to 10 years, or smaller losses in recent market crashes.

- Among GWW's popular alternatives, URI was ahead of GWW in most short and long periods, though with much bigger swings (39.1% volatility against 24.9%).
- Nothing in the whole market did better on both counts: none of the 3,641 stocks and funds worth at least $500 million earned more than GWW with less volatility over the past 5 years.

## GWW against its popular alternatives

The investments people most often weigh against GWW, compared period by period and year by year.

### How do GWW's risk and return compare with its alternatives?

This map plots each investment's annual return over the past 5 years against its volatility, the size of its typical price swings.

- None of the 19 popular alternatives earned more than GWW over the past 5 years with smaller price swings, so every higher return on the map came with a bumpier ride.
- 14 of the 19 popular alternatives earned less than GWW over the past 5 years while swinging more, the weaker corner of the map.
- Over the past 5 years, GWW returned 26.7% a year, more than the S&P 500's 12.5%, with higher volatility (24.9% against 17.2%).

### Has GWW consistently beaten its popular alternatives?

This section compares GWW with the investments people most often weigh against it, checking each one over eight periods from one month to ten years.

- None of the 19 popular alternatives outperformed GWW in at least 3 of 5 short-term and 2 of 3 long-term timeframes. The closest was URI.

| Investment | 1Y return | 3Y return | 5Y return | 10Y return | Periods ahead of GWW | Verdict | Sharpe |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| GWW: W.W. Grainger, Inc. (this page) | +41.7% | +103% | +227% | +670% |  |  | 1.08 |
| [URI](https://betterthanspy.com/research/uri): United Rentals, Inc. | +13.0% | +179% | +213% | +1,407% | 2/5 short-term, 2/3 long-term |  | 0.78 |
| DXPE: DXP Enterprises, Inc. | +36.3% | +389% | +382% | +674% | 1/5 short-term, 2/3 long-term |  | 0.91 |
| [PH](https://betterthanspy.com/research/ph): Parker-Hannifin Corporation | +21.5% | +151% | +218% | +755% | 0/5 short-term, 2/3 long-term |  | 0.95 |
| AIT: Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. | +26.8% | +112% | +234% | +717% | 0/5 short-term, 2/3 long-term |  | 0.95 |
| GIC: Global Industrial Co | +33.7% | +52.0% | +32.4% | +1,026% | 3/5 short-term, 1/3 long-term |  | 0.34 |
| WCC: WESCO International, Inc. | +52.5% | +164% | +167% | +463% | 1/5 short-term, 1/3 long-term |  | 0.67 |
| [FAST](https://betterthanspy.com/research/fast): Fastenal Company | +26.5% | +97.6% | +112% | +582% | 2/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.74 |
| DSGR: Distribution Solutions Group, Inc. | +18.6% | +20.3% | +37.4% | +260% | 2/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.36 |
| DNOW: Dnow Inc. | +4.5% | +36.7% | +101% | −30.1% | 2/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.54 |
| SITE: SiteOne Landscape Supply, Inc. | −14.5% | −24.0% | −54.0% | +221% | 1/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | -0.17 |
| [ITW](https://betterthanspy.com/research/itw): Illinois Tool Works Inc. | +13.2% | +34.9% | +40.0% | +213% | 1/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.42 |
| FBIN: Fortune Brands Innovations, Inc. | −11.7% | −19.8% | −42.2% | +7.4% | 1/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | -0.10 |
| [FERG](https://betterthanspy.com/research/ferg): Ferguson plc | −3.9% | +56.6% | +68.7% | +458% | 0/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.49 |
| [ROK](https://betterthanspy.com/research/rok): Rockwell Automation, Inc. | +22.6% | +66.9% | +45.7% | +325% | 0/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.40 |
| WSO: Watsco, Inc. | −3.8% | +3.7% | +28.4% | +216% | 0/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.32 |
| [HON](https://betterthanspy.com/research/hon): Honeywell International Inc. | +9.0% | +30.5% | +13.2% | +163% | 0/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.22 |
| MSM: MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. | +34.1% | +32.3% | +65.8% | +148% | 0/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.52 |
| CNM: Core & Main, Inc. | −19.5% | +43.4% | +72.5% | — | 0/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.48 |
| REZI: Resideo Technologies, Inc. | −38.4% | +77.2% | −0.8% | — | 0/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.24 |

### How did GWW do year by year?

This table shows each investment's total return in every full calendar year since 1997, along with where GWW ranked among its popular alternatives each year.

- Ranked against its popular alternatives each year, GWW finished in the top quarter in seven of 29 years and in the bottom quarter in three. In 2025, it ranked 15 of 20.
- GWW finished ahead of the S&P 500 in 14 of its 29 full calendar years.
- Among its popular alternatives, ROK came out ahead of GWW most often, in 19 of the 29 years both traded.

| Year | GWW | SPY |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 2025 | −3.4% | +17.7% |
| 2024 | +28.2% | +24.9% |
| 2023 | +50.5% | +26.2% |
| 2022 | +8.7% | −18.2% |
| 2021 | +28.8% | +28.7% |
| 2020 | +22.8% | +18.3% |
| 2019 | +22.3% | +31.2% |
| 2018 | +21.7% | −4.6% |
| 2017 | +4.3% | +21.7% |
| 2016 | +17.3% | +12.0% |

## Risk and diversification

How GWW has fallen, how it held up in crashes beside the S&P 500 and its popular alternatives, and what moves independently of it.

### What were GWW's worst declines?

A drawdown is the decline from a peak to the lowest point before a new high.

- Not every decline was the market's doing: GWW fell 56.7% from June 1999 to October 2000, while the S&P 500 rose 1.7%.
- The slowest recovery came after GWW fell 36.5% in October 1987; it did not regain that peak until February 1990, two years later.
- In three of GWW's four worst declines, the S&P 500 held up better over the same dates.

| Decline | Peak | Low | Back at the high | SPY over the same dates | Market event |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| −56.7% | June 17, 1999 | October 17, 2000 | February 25, 2002 | +1.7% | dot-com bust |
| −41.6% | August 21, 2018 | March 23, 2020 | August 12, 2020 | −19.4% | late-2018 sell-off |
| −38.6% | February 21, 2017 | August 28, 2017 | January 24, 2018 | +4.4% |  |
| −37.5% | July 13, 2007 | November 19, 2008 | October 13, 2009 | −46.0% | 2008 financial crisis |
| −36.5% | October 2, 1987 | October 28, 1987 | February 15, 1990 | — |  |

### How did GWW do in stock market crashes?

This section measures how far GWW, the S&P 500 and each alternative fell from peak to trough during every major market crash since 2000.

- Among its popular alternatives, FAST held up best, falling less than GWW in six of the ten crashes they both traded through.
- GWW fell less than the S&P 500 in four of the ten crashes it has traded through. The clearest case was the 2008 financial crisis, when GWW fell 35.3% and the S&P 500 fell 55.2%.

| Crash | Dates | GWW fall | SPY fall |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Dot-com bust | March 10, 2000 to October 9, 2002 | −55.6% | −47.5% |
| Global financial crisis | October 9, 2007 to March 9, 2009 | −35.3% | −55.2% |
| Flash crash | May 6, 2010 to May 7, 2010 | −1.5% | −1.5% |
| Euro debt crisis | July 22, 2011 to October 3, 2011 | −18.5% | −17.9% |
| China devaluation & oil rout | August 10, 2015 to February 11, 2016 | −20.6% | −12.8% |
| Volmageddon | February 2, 2018 to February 9, 2018 | −2.1% | −6.5% |
| Q4 2018 selloff | September 21, 2018 to December 24, 2018 | −25.2% | −19.3% |
| COVID crash | February 19, 2020 to March 23, 2020 | −32.5% | −33.7% |
| 2022 bear market | January 4, 2022 to October 12, 2022 | −16.9% | −24.5% |
| SVB / regional bank stress | March 8, 2023 to March 13, 2023 | −3.6% | −3.4% |

### How closely does GWW move with the S&P 500?

Upside capture measures how much of the S&P 500's gains an investment kept in the months the market rose, and downside capture how much of its losses it took in the months the market fell.

- Over the past 10 years, GWW captured 113% of the S&P 500's gains in rising months and 95% of its losses in falling months, with a beta of 1.12. Its share of the market's gains was larger than its share of the losses.
- Only GIC, AIT and FAST had a higher capture ratio (upside capture divided by downside capture) than GWW's 1.19, out of 17 popular alternatives with the same record.
- GIC took just 62% of the S&P 500's losses, against 95% for GWW, while still keeping 113% of its gains.

Measured over the past 10 years of monthly returns against SPY.

| Investment | Upside capture | Downside capture | Beta |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| GWW: W.W. Grainger, Inc. (this page) | 113% | 95.0% | 1.12 |
| [URI](https://betterthanspy.com/research/uri): United Rentals, Inc. | 177% | 165% | 1.90 |
| DXPE: DXP Enterprises, Inc. | 171% | 201% | 1.77 |
| [PH](https://betterthanspy.com/research/ph): Parker-Hannifin Corporation | 141% | 126% | 1.43 |
| AIT: Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. | 111% | 75.0% | 1.13 |
| GIC: Global Industrial Co | 113% | 62.0% | 0.66 |
| WCC: WESCO International, Inc. | 165% | 194% | 1.96 |
| [FAST](https://betterthanspy.com/research/fast): Fastenal Company | 106% | 87.0% | 0.98 |
| DSGR: Distribution Solutions Group, Inc. | 95.0% | 94.0% | 0.78 |
| DNOW: Dnow Inc. | 75.0% | 168% | 1.43 |
| SITE: SiteOne Landscape Supply, Inc. | 116% | 161% | 1.31 |
| [ITW](https://betterthanspy.com/research/itw): Illinois Tool Works Inc. | 94.0% | 116% | 1.04 |
| FBIN: Fortune Brands Innovations, Inc. | 96.0% | 193% | 1.47 |
| [FERG](https://betterthanspy.com/research/ferg): Ferguson plc | 118% | 122% | 1.25 |
| [ROK](https://betterthanspy.com/research/rok): Rockwell Automation, Inc. | 122% | 138% | 1.46 |
| WSO: Watsco, Inc. | 74.0% | 74.0% | 0.93 |
| [HON](https://betterthanspy.com/research/hon): Honeywell International Inc. | 90.0% | 118% | 1.00 |
| MSM: MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. | 83.0% | 96.0% | 0.95 |

### What diversifies GWW?

Correlation measures how closely two investments move together, on a scale from 1 (in lockstep) through 0 (unrelated) to -1 (in opposite directions).

- Moving a fifth of the money in GWW into GLD would have cut the portfolio's volatility by 20% over the past 5 years for a small cut in its annual return (+27.2% for GWW alone, +26.3% for the mix).
- CAH made money in five of the seven calendar years in which GWW lost money.
- Among large ETFs, LVHI, DXJ and HDV have moved largely independently of GWW over the past 5 years, with correlations of 0.49 or lower, and each still earned a positive 5-year return.

| Investment | Correlation with GWW | 5Y return | Volatility | Sharpe | Rose in GWW's 7 down years |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| LVHI: Franklin International Low Volatility High Dividend Index ETF | 0.43 | +119% | 11.1% | 1.48 | 1 of 7 |
| DXJ: WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity Fund | 0.41 | +225% | 19.1% | 1.34 | 2 of 7 |
| HDV: iShares Core High Dividend ETF | 0.49 | +86.8% | 13.0% | 1.03 | 1 of 7 |
| MLPX: Global X - MLP & Energy Infrastructure ETF | 0.49 | +138% | 19.7% | 0.98 | 1 of 7 |
| [SMH](https://betterthanspy.com/research/smh): VanEck Semiconductor ETF | 0.35 | +304% | 37.0% | 0.94 | 2 of 7 |
| IOO: iShares Global 100 ETF | 0.49 | +107% | 17.2% | 0.94 | 3 of 7 |
| [XLE](https://betterthanspy.com/research/xle): State Street Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF | 0.30 | +178% | 25.5% | 0.94 | 4 of 7 |
| [GLD](https://betterthanspy.com/research/gld): SPDR Gold Shares | -0.06 | +120% | 19.0% | 0.93 | 3 of 7 |

## Common questions

### What was GWW's worst drawdown?

GWW's deepest decline since it began trading in 1986 was 56.7%, from June 1999 to October 2000. It took 16 months from the low to climb back to its old high.

### What were GWW's best and worst years?

Over 29 full calendar years, GWW's best year was 2023, when it returned 50.5%. Its worst was 2000, with a return of -22.3%.

### Is there a better investment than GWW?

Among GWW's popular alternatives, URI was ahead of GWW in most short and long periods, though with much bigger swings (39.1% volatility against 24.9%). Nothing in the whole market did better on both counts: none of the 3,641 stocks and funds worth at least $500 million earned more than GWW with less volatility over the past 5 years.

### Is GWW more volatile than the S&P 500?

Yes. GWW's volatility over the past 5 years was 24.9%, 1.5 times the S&P 500's 17.2%. Volatility measures how widely returns swing around their average: in roughly two years out of three, GWW's return lands within 24.9% of its average, either way. The higher it is, the rougher the ride and the harder it is to hold through a slump.

### What is GWW's Sharpe ratio?

GWW's Sharpe ratio over the past 5 years was 1.08, against 0.78 for the S&P 500, so GWW earned more for each unit of risk than an index fund did. The Sharpe ratio is the return earned above cash for each unit of volatility: two investments with the same return are not equal if one got there with far bigger swings.

### How correlated is GWW with the S&P 500?

Over the past 5 years, GWW's monthly returns had a correlation of 0.61 with the S&P 500. Correlation runs from 1 (moving in lockstep) through 0 (unrelated) to −1 (moving in opposite directions). They often move together: some diversification next to an index fund, but not a cushion. In the table, the correlation column measures each option against GWW instead: the lower it is, the more that option would diversify a GWW holding.

### What are the best alternatives to GWW?

None of the 19 popular alternatives we compared outperformed GWW in at least 3 of 5 short-term and 2 of 3 long-term timeframes, which says more about GWW's strength than about its alternatives.

### Did GWW outperform the S&P 500?

GWW finished ahead of the S&P 500 (SPY) in 14 of 29 full calendar years. In 2025, it returned -3.4%, against +17.7% for the index.

### How did GWW do in stock market crashes?

GWW fell less than the S&P 500 (SPY) in four of the ten major crashes it has traded through, and further in four. The clearest case was the 2008 financial crisis, when GWW fell 35.3% and the S&P 500 fell 55.2%.

### What diversifies GWW?

These had a low correlation with GWW over the past 5 years and still earned a positive 5-year return: among large ETFs, LVHI (correlation 0.43), DXJ (correlation 0.41) and HDV (correlation 0.49); among large stocks, CAH (correlation 0.44), CLS (correlation 0.16) and MCK (correlation 0.28). A correlation near zero means the two have moved largely independently.

## More research

- [United Rentals (URI) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://betterthanspy.com/research/uri)
- [Parker-Hannifin (PH) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://betterthanspy.com/research/ph)
- [Fastenal (FAST) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://betterthanspy.com/research/fast)
- [Illinois Tool Works (ITW) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://betterthanspy.com/research/itw)
- [Ferguson (FERG) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://betterthanspy.com/research/ferg)
- [Rockwell Automation (ROK) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://betterthanspy.com/research/rok)
- [Honeywell International (HON) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://betterthanspy.com/research/hon)
- [Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF (SCHD) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://betterthanspy.com/research/schd)
- [NVIDIA (NVDA) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://betterthanspy.com/research/nvda)
- [Apple (AAPL) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://betterthanspy.com/research/aapl)
- [Alphabet (GOOG) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://betterthanspy.com/research/goog)
- [Microsoft (MSFT) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://betterthanspy.com/research/msft)

## Explore further

- Full page with charts: https://betterthanspy.com/research/gww
- All research pages: https://betterthanspy.com/llms.txt
- Compare the entire market against GWW live: https://betterthanspy.com/?b=GWW