7/14/2009
HEADLINES
STOCKS: Fastenal Sales & Earnings Drop
Fastenal sales dropped 21.4% to $474.89 million during the second quarter of 2009, “substantially” weakened by the struggling national economy. Q2 earnings fell 42% to $43.5 million.
Sales for the first six months of 2009 declined 17.6% to $964.2 million, with earnings off 36% to $92.2 million. Fastenal opened 42 new stores during the first half of the year, but trimmed its overall workforce 8.5% to 12,470 employees.
OEM production sales were hardest hit, while MRO revenue decline was more moderate. On a sequential basis, manufacturing daily average sales improved in both May and June – the first sequential improvement since September 2008.
“We remain practical optimists and we always attempt to balance long-term opportunities for growth with the necessary short-term reactions to our current reality,” the company stated.
Fastenal has slowed store openings to a range of 2% to 5% for 2009, and stopped adding headcount except for store openings and for stores that are growing. Capital expenditures are down after rising in 2008 for the Indianapolis distribution expansion and a new distribution center near Dallas, TX.
On July 10, 2009, Fastenal’s board of directors authorized purchases of up to 2,000,000 shares of common stock. The company did not purchase any common stock during the first half of 2009. ©2009 GlobalFastenerNews.com
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