Fastenal Company · NASDAQ:FAST
Fastenal — Q3 2026 Earnings Presentation
24 slides from Fastenal's earnings presentation, Oct 14, 2026
Slide 1: 2026 Third Quarter Investor Teleconference
2026 THIRD QUARTER INVESTOR TELECONFERENCE October 14, 2026
Slide 2: Safe Harbor
Safe Harbor All statements made herein that are not historical facts (e.g., future operating results, net sales growth, long-term share gains, and business activity, as well as expectations regarding operations, including gross and operating income margin, eBusiness DSR growth, weighted FMI technolo
Slide 3: Agenda
Agenda 1. Q3 2026 Highlights 2. Strategic Objectives 3. Sales Growth Drivers 4. Customer Win Spotlight 5. Financial Results 6. Key Takeaways 7. Appendix Presentation format refreshed this quarter. Metric definitions and historical series are unchanged; a summary of changes from the prior version app
Slide 4: Q3 sales up 15.5%, with earnings growth outpacing sales
Q3 2026 HIGHLIGHTS Q3 sales up 15.5%, with earnings growth outpacing sales SALES GROWTH MARGIN EXPANSION CASH CONVERSION CAPITAL EFFICIENCY +15.5% 21.5% 87.1% 32.5% Net sales growth vs. prior year Operating income margin Free cash flow % of net income* Return on invested capital* $2.46B net sales (+
Slide 5: Progress across our three strategic objectives
STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES Progress across our three strategic objectives Increase sales effectiveness Enhance our services Expand total addressable market Gain share through our key account strategy Expand Fastenal Managed Inventory (FMI) device Access currently unaddressed revenue sources and new contra
Slide 6: Share gains and embedded solutions drove growth
SALES GROWTH DRIVERS Share gains and embedded solutions drove growth DAILY SALES RATE (DSR) GROWTH 15.5% Growth continues to outpace our end markets, reflecting share gains from key accounts and new contract wins. • Improvement in market conditions in the first half of 2026 strengthened further in Q
Slide 7: Digital adoption and FMI deployments continue to grow
SALES GROWTH DRIVERS Digital adoption and FMI deployments continue to grow DIGITAL FOOTPRINT Digital Footprint was 61.4% of total sales. 61.1% 61.4% • FMI and eBusiness volumes continued to grow. • Digital adoption improves order accuracy, reduces manual work, and strengthens customer relationships.
Slide 8: A manufacturer's 20-year-old supply model, rebuilt on FMI
CUSTOMER WIN SPOTLIGHT A manufacturer’s 20-year-old supply model, rebuilt on FMI ESTIMATED CUSTOMER SAVINGS DIGITAL FOOTPRINT REPLENISHMENT NEXT OPPORTUNITIES ~25% 99% Automated Multiple As onboarding continues Digital footprint on the account Fully automated process Growth opportunities identified
Slide 9: Our supply solutions lower customer costs while growing our share
WHY THIS CUSTOMER CHOSE FASTENAL Our supply solutions lower customer costs while growing our share BEFORE FMI Why we win: an engineered solution, not just supply • Lean specialists map each customer’s processes, waste, and travel time onsite. • Solutions designed with the customer’s leadership and p
Slide 10: Growth broad-based, led by heavy manufacturing
BUSINESS & MARKET TRENDS Growth broad-based, led by heavy manufacturing DSR GROWTH BY END MARKET Heavy manufacturing 44.6% of sales · PY +1.6% 20.2% U.S. manufacturing PMI averaged 54.9 in Q3, signaling continued expansion. All other manufacturing • Industrial production for our key end markets (IP-
Slide 11: Sales up 15.5%; operating margin up 90 bps
FINANCIAL RESULTS Sales up 15.5%; operating margin up 90 bps Summary Results Sales increased 15.5% (reported and daily). % vs. PY ($ in millions) Q3 2026 Q3 2025 Fav/(Unfav) Gross margin decreased 40 bps. Sales $ 2,463.3 $ 2,133.3 15.5% • Customer mix was a ~50 bps headwind, driven by Daily Sales 38
Slide 12: Cash generation remains strong while funding growth
CASH FLOW & CAPITAL DISCIPLINE Cash generation remains strong while funding growth CASH GENERATION CAPITAL RETURNED, Q3 2026 Operating cash flow $421.6M 105.0% of net income for the quarter Dividends paid $298.2M 74.2% of net income 102.0% 103.0% 101.1% FY24 FY25 TTM Q3 26 Share repurchases $30.2M 7
Slide 13: Strong growth with higher operating margins and returns
KEY TAKEAWAYS Strong growth with higher operating margins and returns WHAT Q3 DELIVERED +15.5% 21.5% 87.1% 32.5% Net sales growth Operating income margin Free cash flow % of net income* Return on invested capital* $2.46B net sales +90 bps vs. prior year -11.9 pts vs. prior year +230 bps vs. prior ye
Slide 14: Thank You
THANK YOU LISTING NEXT REPORT IR WEBSITE IR CONTACT Nasdaq: FAST Q4 2026 results investor.fastenal.com investor.relations@fastenal.com Fastenal Company common stock Date posted to the IR site Filings, events and webcast replay Questions on results or the webcast 14
Slide 15: What changed from the prior version
APPENDIX What changed from the prior version SHOWN DIFFERENTLY OR AVAILABLE MOVED ADDED ELSEWHERE • End market and material type history • Strategic progress, previously combined • An opening highlights page framing the moved out of the body onto an appendix with what is now the sales growth drivers
Slide 16: Non-GAAP financial measures
APPENDIX Non-GAAP financial measures Non-GAAP Financial Measures The appendix includes information on our Return on Invested Capital ('ROIC'), which is a non-GAAP financial measure. We define ROIC as net operating income less income tax expense divided by average invested capital over the trailing 1
Slide 17: Return on invested capital
APPENDIX Return on invested capital TTM TTM TTM TTM CALCULATION OF ROIC RECONCILIATION OF ROIC TO ROA Q3 2026 Q3 2025 Q3 2026 Q3 2025 Operating Income $1,864.4 1,616.3 Net Income $1,418.2 1,226.6 Income Tax Expense (447.9) (388.0) Total Assets $5,305.3 4,927.4 Net Operating Profit After Tax (NOPAT)
Slide 18: Reconciliation of free cash flow
APPENDIX Reconciliation of free cash flow CALCULATION OF FREE CASH FLOW Q3 2026 Q3 2025 YTD 2026 TTM Q3 2026 FY2025 FY2024 Net cash provided by operating activities $421.6 $386.9 $1,065.7 $1,433.8 $1,295.9 $1,173.3 Less: purchases of property and equipment (74.0) (60.3) (197.0) (257.0) (245.3) (226.
Slide 19: Business & market trends — historical detail
APPENDIX Business & market trends — historical detail DSR GROWTH Q1 2024 Q2 2024 Q3 2024 Q4 2024 Q1 2025 Q2 2025 Q3 2025 Q4 2025 Q1 2026 Q2 2026 Q3 2026 By end market Heavy manufacturing (44.6% of sales) 2.7% 1.8% 0.7% 1.7% 4.8% 7.5% 12.4% 12.6% 14.1% 18.1% 20.2% All other manufacturing (32.0% of sa
Slide 20: Technology supplemental
APPENDIX Technology supplemental EBUSINESS AND FMI TRENDS Q1 2024 Q2 2024 Q3 2024 Q4 2024 Q1 2025 Q2 2025 Q3 2025 Q4 2025 Q1 2026 Q2 2026 Q3 2026 eBusiness daily sales rate growth, year 33.6% 25.5% 25.6% 27.6% 12.9% 13.5% 8.0% 6.4% 6.8% 12.6% 14.8% over year eBusiness as a percent of net sales 28.6%
Slide 21: Sequential trends — monthly detail
APPENDIX Sequential trends — monthly detail MONTHLY SEQUENTIAL Jan. - Jan. - Jan. - Jan. - DSR CHANGE Jan.* Feb. Mar. Apr. May Jun. Jul. Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec. Mar. Jun. Sep. Oct. Five-year benchmark** 0.0% 2.2% 2.7% 4.9% (1.6%) 3.0% 1.0% 7.5% (3.1%) 2.2% 4.0% 10.7% (1.8%) 8.7% (2.3%) (6.9%) 2026
Slide 22: End market profile
APPENDIX End Market Mix - Full Year 2026 End market profile FY25 End Market Data 43.0% 32.8% 8.1% 5.3% 4.4% 3.8% 2.6% Heavy All Other Non-Residential Manufacturing, Manufacturing, Construction, Heavy All Other Non-Residential Transportation/ Reseller, Reseller, Gov't/Education, Gov't/Education, Othe
Slide 23: Customer site supplemental
APPENDIX End Market Mix - Full Year 2026 Customer site supplemental CUSTOMER SITES BY MONTHLY SPEND Q3 2026 sites (#) (1) (2) Q3 2026 sales ($MM) Q3 2026 sales per site (3) Q3 2025 sites (#)(1) (2) Q3 2025 sales ($MM) Q3 2025 sales per site (3) Manufacturing $50k+ per month (4) 2,730 1,239.4 151,331
Slide 24: Employee statistics
APPENDIX Employee statistics Absolute Count FTE Count (1) Change Change Change Change Change Change HEADCOUNT Q3 Q2 Q4 Q3 Q3 Q2 Q4 Q3 Since Since Since Since Since Since STATISTICS 2026 2026 2025 2025 2026 2026 2025 2025 Q2 2026 Q4 2025 Q3 2025 Q2 2026 Q4 2025 Q3 2025 Selling personnel (2) 17,117 17