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We experienced an increase in unit sales in the first quarter of 2025. This was due to a 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 was not material in the first quarter of 2025 and 2024. Price levels remained relatively stable in the first quarter of 2025.

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. With industrial production still sluggish in the first quarter of 2025, the performance of our fastener product line continued to lag our non-fastener product lines. The fastener category experienced growth in the first quarter of 2025 after seven consecutive flat or declining quarters. This was driven by easier comparisons and increased contribution from large customer signings. 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 warehousing and data center customers. Other product lines experienced growth from MRO-oriented lines, such as electrical and janitorial, rather than from OEM-oriented lines, such as cutting tools and welding/abrasives, reflecting 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:

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, and transportation/warehousing. 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. Other end market sales were favorably impacted by growth with warehousing and storage, and data center customers, which was partially offset by declining sales with resellers. 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 over the last 12 months, 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 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, and we intend to disclose this information quarterly going forward until management determines otherwise. 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.

The prior three years of quarterly customer site data can be found at the end of this document.

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 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 6,418 weighted FASTBin and FASTVend devices in the first quarter of 2025. Our goal for weighted FASTBin and FASTVend device signings in 2025 remains between 28,000 to 30,000 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, decreased to 45.1% in the first quarter of 2025 from 45.5% in the first quarter of 2024. Our gross profit percentage was primarily impacted by three factors. First, customer and product mix diluted our gross profit percentage. This reflects relatively stronger growth from large customers, including Onsite-like customers, and non-fastener products, each of which tend to have a lower gross profit percentage than our business as a whole. Second, we experienced higher fleet and transportation costs due to inflation in vehicle costs as we cycle our fleet and in third-party freight costs. Third, the aforementioned negative effects on our gross profit percentage were partly offset by increases in supplier incentives due to expanding spend with key suppliers.

SG&A Expenses

Our SG&A expenses, as a percentage of net sales, were 25.0% in the first quarter of 2025 versus 24.9% in the first quarter of 2024. Our ability to leverage was impacted by having one less selling day in the first quarter of 2025 as compared to the first quarter of 2024, as operating expenses are not managed around monthly selling days. We also experienced growth in SG&A of 3.9% in the first quarter of 2025 versus net sales growth of 3.4% in the same period.

Employee-related expenses, which represent 70% to 75% of total SG&A expenses, increased 2.3% in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the first quarter of 2024. We experienced a modest increase in employee base pay due to higher average FTE and, to a lesser degree, higher average wages during the period, as well as higher health insurance costs. This was partly offset by lower incentive pay and profit sharing expense versus the first quarter of 2024.

Occupancy-related expenses, which represent 15% to 20% of total SG&A expenses, increased 6.3% in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the first quarter of 2024. This was primarily a result of increases in a number of cost categories, including general inflation in branch rental costs and utilities, incremental depreciation and other costs associated with hub investments and upgrades, and slightly 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 10.4% in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the first quarter of 2024. Selling-related transportation costs were higher, reflecting higher lease costs as we refreshed our fleet of pick-ups, which were partially offset by lower fuel expense. We had relatively smaller increases in bad debt expense, information technology (IT) expenses, sales-related travel expense, and realized losses on currency conversion, which were partially offset by increases in joint marketing efforts with our suppliers.

Operating Income

Our operating income, as a percentage of net sales, decreased to 20.1% in the first quarter of 2025 from 20.6% in the first quarter of 2024.

Net Interest

We had lower interest income reflecting a reduction in capital being invested in higher-earning short-term instruments during the period. We had lower interest expense as a result of slightly lower borrowings through the first quarter of 2025. The greater reduction in interest income relative to interest expense resulted in our generating net interest expense of $0.8 in the first quarter of 2025, compared to $0.4 in the first quarter of 2024.

Income Taxes

We recorded income tax expense of $94.4 in the first quarter of 2025, or 24.0% of income before income taxes. Income tax expense was $92.1 in the first quarter of 2024, or 23.6% of income before income taxes. We believe our ongoing tax rate, absent any discrete tax items or broader changes to tax law, will be approximately 24.5%. Our tax rate in the first quarter of 2025 and the first quarter of 2024 was below our expected ongoing tax rate due to the tax benefits associated with the exercise of stock options during each period.

Net Income

Our net income during the first quarter of 2025 was $298.7, an increase of 0.3% compared to the first quarter of 2024. Our diluted net income per share was $0.52 in the first quarter of 2025, compared to $0.52 in the first quarter of 2024.

BALANCE SHEET AND CASH FLOW

Net cash provided by operating activities was $262.2 in the first quarter of 2025, a decrease of 21.8% from the first quarter of 2024, representing 87.8% of the period's net income versus 112.7% in the first quarter 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 in the first quarter of 2025 as compared to a modest use of cash in the first quarter of 2024.

The dollar and percentage change in accounts receivable, net, inventories, and accounts payable as of March 31, 2025 when compared to March 31, 2024 were as follows:

The increase in our accounts receivable balance in the first 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 first quarter of 2025 was primarily attributable to three factors. First, we added inventory to support projected growth in our business and, to a lesser extent, the anticipated impact of tariffs. Second, our inventory increased as a result of growth in sales with certain customers and the addition of stock to ensure we can support their future growth. Third, we added inventory to support our fastener expansion and optimal package quantity initiatives, which are intended to improve service to our in-market locations and generate efficiencies in our hubs.

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

During the first quarter of 2025, our investment in property and equipment, net of proceeds from sales, was $53.8, which was a slight increase from $48.3 in the first quarter of 2024. This was primarily related to an increase in spending for facility construction and upgrades, FMI hardware to support growth in our installed base, IT and manufacturing.

For 2025, we continue to expect our investment in property and equipment, net of proceeds from sales, to be within a range of $265.0 to $285.0, an increase from $214.1 in 2024. This increase reflects three items. First, we expect higher distribution center spending to complete our upgraded Utah hub, begin construction on a new Atlanta hub, and improve our picking capacity and efficiency across our hub network. Second, we expect elevated IT spending as projects that were expected in 2024 experienced delays and will occur in 2025. Third, we expect greater outlays for FMI hardware reflecting an increase in our targeted signings.

During the first quarter of 2025, we returned $246.7 to our shareholders in the form of dividends, compared to the first quarter of 2024 when we returned $223.2 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 $200.0 at the end of the first quarter of 2025, or 5.1% of total capital (the sum of stockholders' equity and total debt). This compares to $200.0, or 5.5% of total capital, at the end of the first 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 404. Our total FTE selling and sales support personnel increased by 172. This increase reflects additions of FTE to support growth in our Onsite locations, partially offset by a reduction of personnel at our branch locations reflecting both shifts to Onsite locations and tight management of headcount given sluggish business conditions. We had an increase in our distribution and transportation FTE personnel of 98 to support increased product throughput at our distribution facilities. We had an increase in our remaining FTE personnel of 134 which related primarily to personnel investments in manufacturing, quality control, IT, and business analytics.

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.

ANNUAL MEETING OF SHAREHOLDERS WEBCAST

On Thursday, April 24, 2025, we will be holding our Annual Meeting of Shareholders (the 'Annual Meeting') at the Remlinger Muscle Car Museum located at 3560 Service Drive, Winona, Minnesota. The Annual Meeting will be webcast from 10:00 a.m., central time, until the conclusion of the meeting. To access the webcast, please go to the Fastenal Company Investor Relations Website at https://investor.fastenal.com/events.cfm.

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, 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

 

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Contacts

Taylor Ranta Oborski
Accounting Manager
507.313.7959