Fastenal Company (NASDAQ: FAST) stock fell over 0.8% in the pre-market session on October 11th, 2017 (as of 7:46AM EDT; Source: Google finance). The group’s gross profit, as a percentage of net sales, fell 20 basis points to 49.1% during the third quarter of 2017 as compared to 49.3% in the third quarter of 2016. This fall is mainly on the back of product changes and customer mix, coupled with the inclusion of Mansco (which has a lower gross profit product mix against the group) Moreover, the hurricanes effects during the quarter on some of their Caribbean, Southeastern, and Gulf Coast regions, hurt their net sales and gross profits.
The group’s Net sales rose $119.7, or 11.8%, on a yoy basis. Their daily sales surged 13.6% during third quarter of 2017 against pcp. Their March 31, 2017 acquisition of Manufacturers Supply Company (‘Mansco’) contributed to their daily sales growth by 1.3 percentage points. The group’s daily sales on an organic basis surged 12.3% on a yoy basis boosted by rising unit sales on the back of a better underlying market demand and contribution from their growth drivers, which are industrial vending and Onsite locations (defined as dedicated sales and service provided from within, or in close proximity to, the customer’s facility).
Fastener products accounted 35.6% of sales during the third quarter of 2017 while daily sales of fastener products surged 12.1% in total, of which 3.8 percentage points were attributable to the recently acquired Mansco business. The group’s sales of non-fastener products represented 64.4% of sales in the third quarter of 2017 and grew 14.6% on a daily basis.
They signed 4,771 industrial vending machines during the third quarter of 2017, while their installed device count reached 69,058 as on September 30, 2017 which is a rise of 14.3% against prior corresponding period. The group’s Sales through their vending machines showed solid performance which rose at a double-digit pace during the third quarter of 2017, primarily driven by the installed base. They signed 81 new Onsite locations during the period from 41 signings in pcp. The group also signed 42 new national account contracts (defined as new customer accounts with a multi-site contract) in the third quarter of 2017.