Fastenal Profit Underwhelms Despite Higher Customer Spending

Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST) shares are trading lower premarket on Monday after the company reported mixed third-quarter 2025 results.

The industrial supplies distributor posted revenue of $2.133 billion, up 11.7% year over year (Y/Y), slightly exceeding the consensus estimate of $2.129 billion.

Although industrial production remained slow in the third quarter of 2025, performance benefited from increased customer contract signings since the first quarter of 2024.

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Unit sales rose in the quarter, driven by more customer sites spending $10,000 or more per month with Fastenal and higher average monthly sales per site across all spending levels.

Foreign exchange fluctuations added about 10 basis points to sales in the quarter. The number of selling days remained unchanged from the prior year.

Weighted FASTBin/FASTVend signings fell 3.2% Y/Y to 7,050 MEUs. Weighted FASTBin/FASTVend installations stood at 133,910 MEUs, up 8.7% Y/Y at the end of the period.

FAST’s Digital Footprint represented 61.3% of sales, an increase from 61.1% a year earlier.

Gross margin rose slightly to 45.3% from 44.9%  a year ago quarter, driven by the fastener expansion project, other supplier-focused initiatives, and enhanced customer and supplier incentive programs.

Operating margin increased to 20.7% of sales, up from 20.3% in the third quarter of 2024.

Fastenal reported earnings per share of 29 cents, missing the analyst expectations of 30 cents.

Operating cash flow totaled $386.9 million, up 30.3% Y/Y, reflecting lower tax payments from bonus depreciation and modest working capital gains.

Shareholder Returns

Fastenal declared a third-quarter cash dividend of 22 cents per share, payable on November 25, 2025, to shareholders of record as of October 28, 2025. Share and per share information in this release has been adjusted following a two-for-one split effective May 21, 2025.

The company paid $252.5 million in dividends in the quarter and $751.6 million year to date. No shares were repurchased during either period.

Outlook

For 2025, the company continues to expect weighted FASTBin and FASTVend device signings of 25,000 to 26,000 MEUs.

Investors can gain exposure to the stock via Tidal Trust III VistaShares Target 15 USA Quality Income ETF (NYSE:QUSA) and ProShares Nasdaq-100 Dorsey Wright Momentum ETF (NASDAQ:QQQA).

Price Action: FAST shares were trading lower by 3.84% to $44.02 premarket at last check Monday.

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