Fastenal Q2 Earnings & Sales Beat Estimates, Stock Rises
The company reported earnings per share (EPS) of 29 cents, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 28 cents and grew 12.7% from the year-ago level of 25 cents per share.Net sales rose 8.6% year over year to $2.08 billion, topping the consensus mark of $2.06 billion. Daily sales also climbed 8.6%, driven primarily by improved customer contract momentum and increased unit sales. Growth came despite a sluggish industrial environment, as larger contract customers and key manufacturing accounts continued to drive incremental gains. Foreign exchange rates positively impacted sales by 10 basis points (bps).Fastenal's unit sales rose in the quarter, driven by more customer sites spending more than $10K per month and modest growth in average sales per site. Product pricing also contributed positively, adding 140–170 bps to net sales.
Fastenal Company price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Fastenal Company Quote
Daily sales of Fasteners (mainly used for industrial production and accounting for approximately 30.5% of net sales) increased 6.6% year over year. Sales of Safety Supplies (22.2%) grew 10.7% daily. Sales of the Other Product Lines (47.3%) also increased 9% year over year.On an end-market basis, the daily sales rate of Heavy Manufacturing (which accounted for approximately 42.9% of net sales) rose 7.5% year over year. The daily sales rate of Other Manufacturing (33%) grew 11% compared with the prior year.Furthermore, the daily sales of Non-Residential Construction grew 3% compared with the prior-year quarter, while the same for Other End-Markets grew 8.7% in the same time frame.Daily sales through weighted FMI devices grew 14.4% for the second quarter, representing 44.1% of net sales. In the quarter, daily sales through eProcurement rose 19.3%, while daily sales via eCommerce declined 4.2%.In the second quarter of 2025, Digital Footprint sales (which include FMI technology and non-FMI eBusiness) accounted for 61% of total sales, up from 59.4% in the year-ago period. The company's revised 2025 target for Digital Footprint penetration is 63%–64%, down from the prior goal of 66%–68%.
The gross margin was 45.3% in the reported quarter, up 20 bps year over year. Our model predicted a gross margin of 44.9% for the quarter. This upside was due to increased fastener product availability, which resulted in higher sales and improved gross margin.Selling, general and administrative expenses – as a percentage of net sales – improved to 24.4% from 24.9% reported in the year-ago quarter. Our model predicted SG&A expenses to improve to 24.3%.Operating margin was 21% (higher than our projection of 20.6%), up from 20.2% a year ago.
As of June 30, 2025, Fastenal had cash and cash equivalents of $237.8 million, down from $255.8 million as of Dec. 31, 2024. The long-term debt at the end of the second quarter of 2025 was $100 million, down from $125 million at 2024-end. During the quarter, FAST returned $252.5 million to its shareholders in the form of dividends.In the second quarter of 2025, net cash provided by operating activities totaled $278.6 million, up 8.1% from the year-ago period.
Fastenal currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).Here are some better-ranked stocks from the Zacks Industrial Products sector.MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. MSM currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.The MSC stock has gained 21% year to date (YTD). The company has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 6%, on average. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for MSC's fiscal 2025 sales and EPS indicates a decline of 1.9% and 24.1%, respectively, from the year-ago period's levels.IperionX Limited IPX currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). IperionX stock has lost 4.4% YTD. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for IperionX's current year's bottom line is expected to improve to a loss of 2 cents per share compared with a 10-cent loss reported in the year-ago period.Siemens Aktiengesellschaft SIEGY currently carries a Zacks Rank #2. Siemens stock has gained 34.9% YTD. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Siemens' current year's sales and EPS indicates growth of 2.3% and 20.5%, respectively, from the year-ago period's levels.
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