FAST Fastenal Company

By Imani Moise 

Fastenal Co. said its fourth-quarter earnings rose as the industrial company saw an uptick in sales at its existing stores.

The Winona, Minn.-based distributor of nuts, bolts, hand tools and other supplies has suffered from a slowdown in construction and continuing economic uncertainty.

Growth in its fasteners business has slowed steadily since its peak at over 10% in 2014, but the company has seen improvements outside its core business with products such as safety supplies, which now comprise over 15% of total revenue in the most recent quarter. Daily sales growth for non-fastening products, which tend to have tighter margins, grew 5.9%, while sales in its fastener business contracted 2.4%.

Over all for the quarter, Fastenal reported a profit of $114.8 million, or 40 cents a share, up from $111.9 million, or 39 cents, a year earlier. Revenue rose 2.7% to $947.9 million.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had forecast earnings of 38 cents on $951.7 million in revenue.

Fastenal said its store count fell 4.5% to 2,622 at the end of the quarter from a year prior. In recent years, Fastenal has grown its industrial vending-machine business. The number of vending machines grew 13% to 62,822.

Shares, inactive premarket, closed Wednesday at $48.26 and have risen 26% over the past three months.

Write to Imani Moise at imani.moise@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 18, 2017 08:04 ET (13:04 GMT)

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