Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) shares rallied Thursday after reporting its latest quarterly earnings, topping profit and revenue consensus estimates.
The wholesale distributor of industrial and construction supplies reported Q4 EPS of $0.46, $0.01, better than the analyst estimate of $0.45. Revenue for the quarter came in at $1.76 billion, up 3.7% YoY and above the consensus estimate of $1.75 billion.
FAST shares are up more than 5% at the time of writing, trading just above the $67 per share mark. Earlier in the session, they hit a high of $68.68 per share.
The company said it experienced higher unit sales in the fourth quarter, primarily due to growth at its onsite locations, especially in ones that were newly opened in 2023 and 2022. It also saw higher unit sales with large customers.
In addition, foreign exchange positively affected sales by approximately ten basis points compared to last year, when it negatively affected sales by approximately 90 basis points.
Reacting to the report, analysts at Jefferies, who have a Hold rating and $60 price target on the stock, said overall, the results were in line with consensus expectations.
"Daily sales growth for the quarter was up 3.7% vs. consensus expectations at ~3.6% growth," analysts wrote. "Bears may note that the daily sales growth in October and November was up +1.9% and +3.8%, respectively. December daily sales were essentially flat y/y.
"Fasteners were down 1.9% in December, with Safety up 11.2% and Other up +6.4%. For the quarter, total manufacturing sales were up ~5.2% while the rest of the markets served were up ~7.0% in total," they added.