COLUMBUS, OH — Heating, Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI) released its monthly TRENDS report, showing average sales for HARDI distributor members increased by 19.8 percent in May 2018.
The average annualized growth for the 12 months through May 2018 is 6.1 percent.
“Cooling season got off to a slow start with cool temps in March and April,” said HARDI Market Research & Benchmarking Analyst Brian Loftus. “Cooling degree days were well above normal in much of the country last month and that is reflected in that big gain for the month.”
“This is perhaps the most interesting and troubling time for the U.S. economy in many years,” said HARDI Senior Economist Connor Lokar. “While we are flying high at the moment, there are immense threats to our economy’s growth that are worsening by the month. The U.S. Purchasing Manager Index, JP Morgan Global PMI, OECD Leading Indicator for the US, US Corporate Profits, and the rates of change for the S&P 500, both ITR Leading Indicators, various utilization rates and the personal savings rate are in agreement regarding our expectation for business cycle decline in 2019.
“The Days Sales Outstanding (DSO), a measure of how quickly customers pay their bills, reached its highest level in four years this month,” said Loftus. “Spikes like that happen after a sales surge like we experienced in May. A correction over the next couple months is the normal pattern.”
