Fastenal Stock Drops as ‘Soft Manufacturing Environment’ Hits Q4 Results | Global News Avenue

Fastenal’s stock (quicklyShares of the industrial parts company fell in premarket trading on Friday after the industrial parts company’s fourth-quarter results fell short of analysts’ expectations.

Fastenal reported net income of $262.1 million, or $0.46 per share, on sales of $1.82 billion, both below analyst consensus estimates compiled by Visible Alpha.

Sales increased 3.7% year over year, but compared with 2023, excluding additional sales days, daily net sales increased 2.1%. Profits fell 1.6%.

‘Soft manufacturing environment’, holiday factory closures impact sales

Fastenal said its sales growth was slow as a “weak manufacturing environment persists” throughout much of 2024. Sales were also hurt by more customers implementing “unusually large production cuts” in late December as factories closed for the holidays, as well as by foreign companies and foreign exchange rates that had a negative impact compared with the previous year.

Fastenal shares fell nearly 5% less than an hour before the market opened. As of Thursday’s close, the stock had gained about 18% in the past 12 months.