Fastenal Company FAST is scheduled to report second-quarter 2026 results on July 14, before the opening bell.
In the last reported quarter, its earnings per share (EPS) met the Zacks Consensus Estimate at 30 cents and grew year over year by 13.6%. Net sales marginally topped the consensus mark by 0.04% and grew 12.4% from the year-ago quarter.
Fastenal’s earnings topped the consensus mark in one of the last four quarters, met on two occasions and missed on the remaining one, with the average surprise being 0.1%.
How Are Estimates Placed for FAST Stock?
For the second quarter, FAST’s Zacks Consensus Estimate for EPS has moved upward over the past 60 days to 33 cents per share from 32 cents. The estimated figure indicates 13.8% year-over-year growth.
The consensus mark for net sales is pegged at $2.34 billion, indicating a 12.6% increase from the year-ago reported figure of $2.08 billion.
Fastenal Company Price and EPS Surprise
Fastenal Company price-eps-surprise | Fastenal Company Quote
Factors Likely to Have Shaped Fastenal's Q2 Performance
Sales
In the second quarter, the top-line performance of Fastenal is likely to have improved year over year, driven by improved customer contract signings and an improvement in industrial production, alongside favorable pricing and several sales-boosting initiatives. The company’s focus on growing its digital footprint, increasing inventory and improving picking efficiency at its hubs is expected to have boded well, despite the sluggish industrial environment.
Direct materials, which include fasteners, cutting tools and other production-related items, are expected to have added to the sales growth of Fastenal, led by improved demand trends for direct fasteners and hardware. Besides, its manufacturing exposure is likely to have been another major driver for the results. Moreover, a balanced mix of on-site and off-site services, along with market share gains across various product categories, is likely to have been an additional growth contributor.
If we go by the latest monthly sales report, May's daily sales grew 14.8% to $37.6 million year over year and grew 4.6% from April 2026.
In terms of end markets in May 2026, Heavy Manufacturing and Other Manufacturing daily sales increased 18.7% and 11.5%, respectively, with Non-residential Construction growing 16%. In terms of customer usage, daily sales for Direct Fasteners/Hardware and Direct non-Fasteners/Hardware jumped 15.9% and 17.2%, respectively. Daily sales under Direct Cutting Tools and Abrasives also improved 13.2% in May 2026.
During the same month, the daily sales growth of contract and non-contract customers was 18% and 8%, respectively, with daily sales through eBusiness increasing 11%.
Margins
The bottom line of FAST is expected to have improved during the second quarter on the back of a favorable price-cost mix, the ongoing fastener expansion project, supply improvement initiatives and cost control strategies. The company’s efforts in controlling costs, especially container and transportation costs, are encouraging. Automating warehouses, increasing delivery efficiency through its trucking network and selling more private-label products with higher margins are likely to have aided the fourth quarter’s bottom-line growth.
Fastenal is likely to have faced an unfavorable customer and product mix, alongside higher freight and overhead costs, given the broader macro uncertainties spanning the economy. However, the increased leverage from top-line growth and margin expansion initiatives is expected to have more than offset these headwinds.
What the Zacks Model Unveils for Fastenal
Our proven model predicts an earnings beat for Fastenal this time around. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the odds of an earnings beat.
FAST’s Earnings ESP: The company has an Earnings ESP of +1.96%. You can uncover the best stocks before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.
FAST’s Zacks Rank: Currently, the stock carries a Zacks Rank of 2. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Other Stocks With the Favorable Combination
Here are some other companies from the Industrial Products sector, which, according to our model, also have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat in their respective quarters to be reported.
Kennametal Inc. KMT has an Earnings ESP of +45.29% and a Zacks Rank of 1.
Kennametal’s earnings topped the consensus mark in three of the last four quarters and missed on the remaining occasion, with the average surprise being 18.6%. Earnings for the company’s second quarter of 2026 are expected to surge a whopping 376.5% year over year.
Caterpillar Inc. CAT has an Earnings ESP of +2.11% and a Zacks Rank of 2.
Caterpillar’s earnings topped the consensus mark in three of the last four quarters and missed on the remaining occasion, with the average surprise being 9.6%. Earnings for the company’s second quarter of 2026 are expected to grow 31.6% year over year.
W.W. Grainger, Inc. GWW has an Earnings ESP of +2.81% and a Zacks Rank of 2.
Grainger’s earnings topped the consensus mark in three of the last four quarters and missed on the remaining occasion, with the average surprise being 4.2%. Earnings for the company’s second quarter of 2026 are expected to increase 12.9% year over year.
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Fastenal Company (FAST): Free Stock Analysis Report
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).