Aerospace and automotive fastener companies reported solid revenue growth in the opening quarter of 2017.

Stanley Black & Decker CEO James Loree said he was “pleased to see Engineered Fastening exceed its growth projections.”

The company’s Engineered Fastening organic revenues rose 4%, as strong automotive system volumes offset weaker industrial and electronics volumes.

Aerospace fastener distributor KLX Inc. plans to report strong first quarter financial results for the quarter ending April 30.

ITW Automotive OEM revenues, including fasteners, rose 26.3% to $828 million, boosted by 9% organic growth. Segment operating income totaled $202 million, with an operating margin of 24.4%.

Overall ITW revenue climbed 6% to $3.5 billion. Organic revenue increased 3.5%, while the 2016 acquisition of Engineered Fasteners & Components (EF&C) added 3.8% to revenue.

Fastenal CEO Dan Florness said he was “very pleased” with his company’s fastener sales trend in Q1. Fastenal Co. reported fastener sales, which represented 35.6% of net sales in Q1, grew 0.8% to $373.8 million, improved by a 1.5% gain in fastener sales in February, marking the company’s first uptick in fastener sales since the third quarter of 2015. 

Bossard reported “a strong start” in the opening quarter of 2017, with sales growing 16.1% to CHF 197.9 million, including 10.3% in organic growth.

“The most striking growth rates were realized in America, where the cooperation with the largest US electric vehicle manufacturer continued to bear fruit,” Bossard stated.

FIN’s annual review of fastener stocks will be published in May.