Winona, MN - Fastenal Company reported the results of the quarter ended September 30, 2013. Except for per share information, or as otherwise noted below, dollar amounts are stated in thousands.
Net sales (and the related daily sales), pre-tax earnings, net earnings, and net earnings per share were as follows for the periods ended September 30:
| Nine-month period | Three-month period | ||||
| 2013 | 2012 | Change | 2013 | 2012 | Change |
Net sales | $ 2,512,346 | 2,376,342 | 5.7% | $ 858,424 | 802,577 | 7.0% |
Business days | 191 | 191 |
| 64 | 63 |
|
Daily sales | $ 13,154 | 12,442 | 5.7% | $ 13,413 | 12,739 | 5.3% |
Pre-tax earnings | $ 556,194 | 516,004 | 7.8% | $ 188,643 | 175,836 | 7.3% |
% of sales | 22.1% | 21.7% |
| 22.0% | 21.9% |
|
Net earnings | $ 349,407 | 321,820 | 8.6% | $ 119,350 | 109,320 | 9.2% |
Net earnings per share (basic) | $ 1.18 | 1.09 | 8.3% | $ 0.40 | 0.37 | 8.1% |
On September 30, 2013, the company had 2,686 stores. During the first nine months of 2013, it opened 44 new stores, an increase of 1.7% since December 2012. On September 30, 2013, the company operated 32,248 FAST SolutionsSM (industrial vending) machines. During the first nine months of 2013, it installed 11,153 new machines, an increase of 52.9% since December 2012 (increased machine count by 89.6% since September 30, 2012). On September 30, 2013, the company had 16,529 employees, an increase of 9.1% since December 2012 and 7.1% since September 2012.
Similar to previous quarters, the company has included comments regarding several aspects of the business:
1. Monthly sales changes, sequential trends, and end market performance — a recap of recent sales trends and some insight into the activities with different end markets.
2. Growth drivers of our business — a recap of how the company grows the business.
3. Profit drivers of our business — a recap of increased profits.
4. Statement of earnings information — a recap of the components of the income statement.
5. Operational working capital, balance sheet, and cash flow — a recap of the operational working capital utilized in our business, and the related cash flow.
SALES GROWTH:
Net sales and growth rates in net sales were as follows:
| Nine-month period | Three-month period | ||
| 2013 | 2012 | 2013 | 2012 |
Net sales | $ 2,512,346 | 2,376,342 | $ 858,424 | 802,577 |
Percentage change | 5.7% | 14.9% | 7.0% | 10.4% |
The increase in net sales in the first nine months of 2013 and 2012 came primarily from higher unit sales. Growth in net sales was impacted by slight inflationary price changes in our non-fastener products and some price deflation in our fastener products, but the net impact was a slight drag on growth. Growth in net sales was not meaningfully impacted by the introduction of new products or services, with one exception, the FAST SolutionsSM (industrial vending) initiative did stimulate faster growth with a subset of our customers (discussed later). The higher unit sales resulted primarily from increases in sales at older store locations (discussed below and again later in this document) and to a lesser degree the opening of new store locations in the last several years. The growth in net sales at the older store locations was due to the growth drivers of our business (discussed later in this document), and, in the case of 2012, the moderating impacts of the recessionary environment. The change in currencies in foreign countries (primarily Canada) relative to the United States dollar lowered daily sales growth rate by 0.2% and 0.2% in the first nine months of 2013 and 2012, respectively and by 0.3% and 0.2% in the three-month periods of 2013 and 2012, respectively.
Sales growth of 7% in the three month period of 2013 was impacted by the gain of one business day versus the prior year (64 days versus 63). Sales growth adjusted to a daily basis was 5.3% in the three month period of 2013. Sales growth was held back partially due to the global economic uncertainty combined with economic policy uncertainty in the United States.
This release has been truncated. For the full release, please visit www.Fastenal.com.
