Press release
Fastenal Company Reports 2019 First Quarter Earnings
WINONA, Minn., April 11, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Fastenal Company (Nasdaq:FAST), a leader in the wholesale distribution of industrial and construction
About this update from Fastenal Company
[{"type":"text","content":"WINONA, Minn., April 11, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Fastenal Company (Nasdaq:FAST), a leader in the wholesale distribution of industrial and construction supplies, today announced its financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2019. Except for share and per share information, or as otherwise noted below, dollar amounts are stated in millions. Throughout this document, 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.PERFORMANCE SUMMARYQuarterly Results of OperationsNet sales increased $123.6, or 10.4%, in the first quarter of 2019 when compared to the first quarter of 2018. Due to the one fewer selling day in the current period, our daily sales increased 12.2% in the first quarter of 2019 when compared to the first quarter of 2018. This increase was driven by higher unit sales related primarily to continued strength in underlying market demand and contribution from our growth drivers, most notably industrial vending, Onsite locations, and construction. A lesser contributor to our sales growth in the first quarter of 2019 was higher product pricing as a result of increases implemented over the course of 2018 to mitigate the impacts of general and tariff-related inflation in the marketplace. These positive factors were slightly offset by adverse weather across many of our northern regions in both periods that created temporary disruptions in activity and reduced sales. Sales of our fastener products grew 11.8% on a daily basis over the first quarter of 2018 and represented 34.8% of sales in the first quarter of 2019. Sales of our non-fastener products grew 12.7% on a daily basis over the first quarter of 2018 and represented 65.2% of sales in the first quarter of 2019.Our gross profit, as a percentage of net sales, declined 100 basis points to 47.7% in the first quarter of 2019 from 48.7% in the first quarter of 2018. The most significant factors behind the decline in our gross profit percentage in the period were the impacts of customer and product mix and net inflation on product margins, higher freight costs, and lower net rebates reflecting our inventory control programs. Relative to the fourth quarter of 2018, our first quarter of 2019 gross profit percentage was...