Fastenal Company Reports 2025 Third Quarter Earnings

Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST) ('Fastenal,' 'we,' 'our,' or 'us'), a leader in the wholesale distribution of industrial and construction supplies, today announced its financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2025. Except for share and per share information, or as otherwise noted below, dollar amounts are stated in millions. All historical common stock share and per share information and stockholders' equity balances for all periods presented in this release, including the financial statements attached to this release, have been retroactively adjusted to reflect a two-for-one stock split effective at the close of business on May 21, 2025. Percentage and dollar calculations, which are based on non-rounded dollar values, may not be able to be recalculated using the dollar values included in this document due to the rounding of those dollar values. References to daily sales rate (DSR) change may reflect either growth (positive) or contraction (negative) for the applicable period.

PERFORMANCE SUMMARY

QUARTERLY RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

Sales

Net sales increased $223.2, or 11.7%, in the third quarter of 2025 when compared to the third quarter of 2024. Both periods had the same number of selling days. Even though industrial production was still sluggish in the third quarter of 2025, the performance reflects the contribution from improved customer contract signings since the first quarter of 2024. Changes in foreign exchange rates positively affected sales in the third quarter of 2025 by approximately 10 basis points and negatively affected sales in the third quarter of 2024 by approximately 10 basis points.

We experienced an increase in unit sales in the third quarter of 2025. This was due to growth in the number of customer sites spending $10k or more per month with Fastenal and, to a lesser degree, growth in average monthly sales per customer site across all customer spend categories. The impact of product pricing on net sales in the third quarter of 2025 was an increase of 240 to 270 basis points, in contrast to the third quarter of 2024, when the impact of product pricing was not material.

From a product standpoint, we have three categories: fasteners, including fasteners used in original equipment manufacturing (OEM) and maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO), safety supplies, and other product lines, the latter of which includes eight smaller product categories, such as tools, janitorial supplies, and cutting tools. Industrial production was still sluggish in the third quarter of 2025; however, the performance of our fastener product line outperformed our non-fastener product lines. The fastener category experienced improved growth in the third quarter of 2025, as compared to the third quarter of 2024, driven by easier comparisons, increased contribution from large customer signings, better product availability in our distribution centers, and pricing actions implemented in the second and third quarters of 2025. We achieved growth in our safety category reflecting the lower volatility of PPE demand, which tends to be utilized in more MRO than OEM applications, growth of our vending installed base, and success with data center customers. Other product lines experienced higher growth from MRO-oriented lines, such as janitorial, and from OEM-oriented lines, such as welding/abrasives, despite continued soft manufacturing demand. The DSR change when compared to the same period in the prior year and the percent of sales in the period were as follows:

In November 2025, we intend to update the presentation of our product sales disaggregation to provide better analytics and visibility into customer data. Insights into the reasons for this change and a sample of the new reporting format is included in our third quarter of 2025 investor presentation.

From an end market standpoint, we have four categories: heavy manufacturing, other manufacturing, non-residential construction, and other, the latter of which includes reseller, government/education, transportation, warehousing and storage, and data centers. Our manufacturing end markets outperformed primarily due to the relative strength we are experiencing with key account customers with significant managed spend where our service model and technology are particularly impactful. This disproportionately benefits manufacturing customers. The non-residential construction end market experienced growth for the second time in twelve consecutive quarters. Other end market sales were favorably impacted by growth with education and healthcare, transportation, and data center customers. These were partially offset by declining sales with resellers, although at a lower decline than we've historically seen. The DSR change when compared to the same period in the prior year and the percent of sales in the period were as follows:

From a customer standpoint, we have two categories: contracts, which include national multi-site, local and regional, and government customers with significant revenue potential, and non-contracts, which include all other customers. Sales with our contract customers continue to outperform as we realize incremental sales from implementing strong customer signings that we have achieved since the first quarter of 2024, which was partially offset by subdued business activity. Non-contract customers tend to be smaller and utilize fewer of our tools and capabilities, providing fewer avenues for share gains and therefore more closely reflect overall business trends, which remain sluggish. The DSR change when compared to the same period in the prior year and the percent of sales in the period were as follows:

Supplemental Data

Prior to 2025, our disclosed metrics primarily addressed development of capabilities, including branch openings, geographic expansion, growth of national accounts, growth of non-fastener products, FMI installations, and Onsite signings, to name a few. The data provided in the chart below measures the number of customer sites that are served throughout our in-market network, categorizing them by monthly customer spend categories and end market, and the sales and average sales per site. We believe this supplemental information may be useful to investors in evaluating Fastenal's business trends and whether and to what degree we are being successful. Historical end market sales have been updated in the table below to categorize by customer site and may not be able to be recalculated due to the rounding of those dollar values.

FMI Technology comprises our FASTStock^℠ (scanned stocking locations), FASTBin^® (infrared, RFID, and scaled bins), and FASTVend^® (vending devices) offerings. FASTStock's fulfillment processing technology is not embedded, is relatively less expensive and highly flexible in application, and is delivered using our proprietary mobility technology. FASTBin and FASTVend incorporate highly efficient and powerful embedded data tracking and fulfillment processing technologies. The first statistic below is a weighted FMI^® measure, which combines the signings and installations of FASTBin and FASTVend in a standardized machine equivalent unit (MEU) based on the expected output of each type of device. We do not include FASTStock in this measurement because scanned stocking locations can take many forms, such as bins, shelves, cabinets, pallets, etc., that cannot be converted into a standardized MEU. The second statistic is sales through FMI Technology, which combines the sales through FASTStock, FASTBin, and FASTVend. A portion of the growth in sales experienced by FMI, particularly FASTStock and FASTBin, reflects the migration of products from less efficient non-digital stocking locations to more efficient, digital stocking locations.

We signed 7,050 weighted FASTBin and FASTVend devices in the third quarter of 2025, resulting in 19,925 new FASTBin and FASTVend signings in the first nine months of 2025. Our goal for weighted FASTBin and FASTVend device signings in 2025 remains between 25,000 to 26,000 MEUs.

The table below summarizes signings and installations of our FMI devices and sales through our FMI devices, eBusiness ⁽¹⁾ tools, and Digital Footprint ⁽²⁾.

Gross Profit

Our gross profit, as a percentage of net sales, increased to 45.3% in the third quarter of 2025 from 44.9% in the third quarter of 2024. The fastener expansion project, other supplier-focused initiatives, and improvements in customer and supplier incentives contributed to the gross profit percentage increase in the third quarter of 2025. The aforementioned positive effects on our gross profit percentage were partially offset by a couple of variables. First, customer mix diluted our gross profit percentage. This reflects relatively stronger growth from large customers, including Onsite-like customers, which tend to have a lower gross profit percentage than our business as a whole. Second, we experienced higher organizational/overhead costs, primarily due to certain working capital being relieved from inventory generating higher period costs. Price/cost had a neutral impact on our gross profit percentage.

SG&A Expenses

Our SG&A expenses, as a percentage of net sales, were unchanged at 24.6% in the third quarter of 2025 from 24.6% in the third quarter of 2024.

Employee-related expenses, which represent 70% to 75% of total SG&A expenses, increased 12.9% in the third quarter of 2025 compared to the third quarter of 2024. We experienced an increase in employee base pay, although at a rate below the growth in sales, due to higher average FTE during the period, and, to a lesser degree, higher average wages during the period. Bonuses and commissions and profit sharing increased at a rate greater than sales as a result of improved business activity and financial performance versus the year-ago period.

Occupancy-related expenses, which represent 15% to 20% of total SG&A expenses, increased 5.3% in the third quarter of 2025 compared to the third quarter of 2024. This was driven by general inflation in branch rental costs and, to a lesser degree, higher depreciation from an increase in the installed base of FMI hardware.

Combined, all other SG&A expenses, which represent 10% to 15% of total SG&A expenses, increased 10.9% in the third quarter of 2025 compared to the third quarter of 2024. Selling-related transportation costs were higher, reflecting higher lease costs, which were only partially offset by lower fuel expense. We had relatively smaller increases in information technology (IT), realized losses on currency conversion, sales-related travel expense, and bad debt expense, which were partially offset by reductions in general insurance expense and increases in joint marketing efforts with our suppliers.

Operating Income

Our operating income, as a percentage of net sales, increased to 20.7% in the third quarter of 2025 from 20.3% in the third quarter of 2024.

Net Interest

We had lower interest income earned during the third quarter of 2025 and lower interest expense in the third quarter of 2025. The decrease in interest income relative to interest expense resulted in net interest expense of $0.9 in the third quarter of 2025, which compared to net interest expense of $0.5 in the third quarter of 2024.

Income Taxes

We recorded income tax expense of $105.1 in the third quarter of 2025, or 23.9% of income before income taxes. Income tax expense was $89.5 in the third quarter of 2024, or 23.1% of income before income taxes. Our tax rate in the third quarter of 2025 was below our expected ongoing tax rate due to a decrease in our liability for unrecognized tax benefits in the third quarter of 2025, and the tax benefits associated with the exercise of stock options during the period. These reductions were partially offset by the return to provision adjustments processed in the third quarter of 2025. We believe our ongoing tax rate, absent any discrete tax items or broader changes to tax law, will be approximately 24.5%.

On July 4, 2025, the U.S. enacted the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). The impact of the OBBBA enactment is immaterial to our Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements.

Net Income

Our net income during the third quarter of 2025 was $335.5, an increase of 12.6% compared to the third quarter of 2024. Our diluted net income per share was $0.29 in the third quarter of 2025, compared to $0.26 in the third quarter of 2024.

CASH FLOW AND BALANCE SHEET

Net cash provided by operating activities was $386.9 in the third quarter of 2025, an increase of 30.3% from the third quarter of 2024, representing 115.3% of the period's net income versus 99.6% in the third quarter of 2024. The increase in operating cash flow, as a percent of net income, primarily reflects a reduction in estimated income tax payments relating to the reinstatement of bonus depreciation in 2025 and working capital being a modest source of cash in the third quarter of 2025, as opposed to a use of cash in the third quarter of 2024.

Net cash provided by operating activities was $927.8 in the first nine months of 2025, an increase of 4.2% from the first nine months of 2024, representing 96.2% of the period's net income versus 100.2% in the first nine months of 2024. The decrease in operating cash flow, as a percent of net income, primarily reflects our operating assets and liabilities being a more significant use of cash, which was only partially offset by a reduction in estimated income tax payments in the first nine months of 2025 than in the first nine months of 2024.

The dollar and percentage change in accounts receivable, net, inventories, and accounts payable as of September 30, 2025 when compared to September 30, 2024 were as follows:

The increase in our accounts receivable balance in the third quarter of 2025 was primarily attributable to growth in sales with our customers, including relative growth with larger customers that tend to carry longer payment terms.

The increase in our inventory balance in the third quarter of 2025 was primarily attributable to two factors. First, we added inventory to support projected growth in our business. Second, and to a lesser extent, tariffs and general inflation have led to increased inventory valuation.

The increase in our accounts payable balance in the third quarter of 2025 was primarily attributable to an increase in our product purchases as reflected in the growth in inventories.

During the third quarter of 2025, our investment in property and equipment, net of proceeds from sales, was $54.7, which was a slight decrease from $55.8 in the third quarter of 2024. This was primarily related to an increase in spending for FMI hardware to support growth in our installed base, facility construction and upgrades, IT, and vehicles that was partially offset by an increase in proceeds from sales of vehicles and property.

For 2025, we expect our investment in property and equipment, net of proceeds from sales, to be within a range of $235.0 to $255.0, an increase from $214.1 in 2024. The expected growth on a year-to-year basis reflects three items. First, we had higher distribution center spending as we completed construction of our replacement Utah hub facility in the third quarter of 2025, began construction on a replacement Atlanta hub facility, and improved our picking capacity and efficiency across our hub network. Second, we expect greater outlays for FMI hardware. Third, we expect elevated IT spending as projects that were expected in 2024 experienced delays and are expected to continue throughout 2025.

During the third quarter of 2025, we returned $252.5 to our shareholders in the form of dividends, compared to the third quarter of 2024 when we returned $223.4 to our shareholders in the form of dividends. During the first nine months of 2025, we returned $751.6 to our shareholders in the form of dividends, compared to the first nine months of 2024 when we returned $669.9 to our shareholders in the form of dividends. We did not repurchase any of our common stock in either period.

Total debt on our balance sheet was $195.0 at the end of the third quarter of 2025, or 4.8% of total capital (the sum of stockholders' equity and total debt). This compares to $240.0, or 6.3% of total capital, at the end of the third quarter of 2024.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

The table below summarizes our absolute and full time equivalent (FTE; based on 40 hours per week) employee headcount, number of branch locations, number of $50k+ customer sites, and weighted FMI devices at the end of the periods presented and the percentage change compared to the end of the prior periods.

During the last twelve months, we increased our total FTE employee headcount by 674. Our total FTE selling and sales support personnel increased by 379 to support growth and sales initiatives to target customer acquisition. We had an increase in our distribution and transportation FTE personnel of 106 to support increased product throughput at our distribution facilities. We had an increase in our remaining FTE personnel of 189, which related primarily to personnel investments in IT, quality control, and strategy and communications.

CONFERENCE CALL TO DISCUSS QUARTERLY RESULTS

As we previously disclosed, we will host a conference call today to review the quarterly results, as well as current operations. This conference call will be broadcast live over the Internet at 9:00 a.m., central time. To access the webcast, please go to our Investor Relations Website at https://investor.fastenal.com/events.cfm.

ADDITIONAL MONTHLY AND QUARTERLY INFORMATION

We publish on the 'Investor Relations' page of our website at www.fastenal.com both our monthly consolidated net sales information and the presentation for our quarterly conference call (which includes information, supplemental to that contained in our earnings announcement, regarding results for the quarter). We expect to publish the consolidated net sales information for each month, other than the third month of a quarter, at 6:00 a.m., central time, on the fourth business day of the following month. We expect to publish the consolidated net sales information for the third month of each quarter and the conference call presentation for each quarter at 6:00 a.m., central time, on the date our earnings announcement for such quarter is publicly released.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Certain statements contained in this document do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. As such, they are considered 'forward-looking statements' that provide current expectations or forecasts of future events. These forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements can be identified by the use of terminology such as anticipate, believe, should, estimate, expect, intend, may, will, plan, goal, project, hope, trend, target, opportunity, and similar words or expressions, or by references to typical outcomes. Any statement that is not a historical fact, including estimates, projections, future trends, and the outcome of events that have not yet occurred, is a forward-looking statement. Our forward-looking statements generally relate to our expectations and beliefs regarding the business environment in which we operate, our projections of future performance, our perceived marketplace opportunities including our prospects to capture long-term value from certain warehousing customers and the related end market, our strategies, goals, mission, and vision, and our expectations about future capital expenditures, future tax rates, including anticipated tax impacts from recent legislation, future inventory levels, pricing, weighted FMI device signings, future sales attributable to our Digital Footprint, investment in property and equipment, the impact of inflation or deflation on our cost of goods, controlling SG&A expenses including FTE growth, future traditional branch closures and openings, the impact of fluctuations in freight and shipping costs, future operating results and business activity, and the impact of natural disasters on daily sales. You should understand that forward-looking statements involve a variety of risks and uncertainties, known and unknown (including risks disclosed in our most recent annual and quarterly reports), and may be affected by inaccurate assumptions. Consequently, no forward-looking statement can be guaranteed and actual results may vary materially. Factors that could cause our actual results to differ from those discussed in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, those detailed in our most recent annual and quarterly reports. Each forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which such statement is made, and we undertake no obligation to update any such statement to reflect events or circumstances arising after such date. FAST-E

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251010013138/en/

Dray Schreiber

Accounting Manager

507.313.7324