Customer Experience

Fastenal boosts Q1 2021 sales, earnings

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April 13, 2021

Fastenal Co., a provider of industrial and construction supplies and supply vending services, increased net sales by $50 million, 3.7%, from $1.367 million in the first quarter of 2020 to $1.417 million in Q1 2021 ending March 31, 2021, according to an earnings release.

Net earnings increased 3.9% from $202.6 million in Q1 2020 to $210.6, an increase of 3.9% in Q1 2021.

Both diluted and basic earnings per share rose from 35 cents in Q1 2020 to 37 cents during the first quarter of 2021.

This growth was largely due to higher unit sales, most notably of fastener, safety and janitorial products. Growth in fastener products reflected further improvement in demand among traditional industrial and construction customers and an easy comparison with respect to March 2021, which came against a year earlier period that experienced the onset of pandemic-related weakness and a contraction in fastener product growth.

Growth in safety products reflected continued improvement in demand among traditional industrial and construction customers as well as sales to new customers that had not purchased safety products from Fastenal prior to the pandemic.

Growth in other products lines primarily reflected good demand for janitorial products, driven by similar variables experienced for safety products. These favorable factors were partly offset by severe weather in February 2021, which reduced net and daily sales growth by 50 to 100 basis points in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the first quarter of 2020.

The quarterly revenue and earnings per share were in line with analyst expectations, according to Seeking Alpha.

The company declared a 28-cents per share dividend for the quarter.

Shares traded at $49.11 today against a 52-week range of $31.78-$51.67.

Daily sales of fastener products grew 4% over the first quarter of 2020, and represented 32.5% of net sales in the first quarter of 2021; fasteners represented 32.9% of net sales in the first quarter of 2020.

Daily sales of safety products grew 14.7% over the first quarter of 2020 and represented 21.5% of net sales in the first quarter of 2021; safety products represented 19.8% of net sales in the first quarter of 2020. Daily sales of other products grew 2.5% over the first quarter of 2020 and represented 46% of net sales in the first quarter of 2021; other products represented 47.3% of net sales in the first quarter of 2020.

The company signed 68 onsite locations during the first quarter of 2021. Though this is a decline from 85 new onsite signings in the first quarter of 2020, it represented the highest rate of quarterly signings since the onset of the pandemic.

The company had 1,285 active sites on March 31, 2021, which represented an increase of 9% from March 31, 2020.

Daily sales through onsite locations, excluding sales transferred from branches to new onsites, increased at a mid-to-high single-digit rate in the first quarter of 2021 over the first quarter of 2020. The increase in sales reflects largely the contributions of the newest onsites, as sales at older sites remained down versus the year earlier period, though the rate of decline continued to moderate relative to preceding quarters.

The company signed 4,683 weighted Fastenal Managed Inventory devices, largely in line with the 4,692 signed in the first quarter of 2020.

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