Fastenal Shares Down Despite 29% Increase in Q3 Profit (FAST)

Fastenal Company (NASDAQ: FAST) shares are down at the start of trading today even as the Winona, Minnesota-based company reported a 29% increase in third-quarter earnings.

At last check, Fastenal shares were down 3.41% to $33.44.

Fastenal, which is engaged in the sale of industrial and construction supplies, reported net sales of $726.74 million, representing an increase of 20.4% over the same period in the previous year. The company’s pre-tax earnings for the third quarter ended September 30, 2011 were $155.31 million, representing an increase of 28.7% over the same period in the previous year. Its net earnings for the third quarter of 2011 were $96.79 million or $0.33 per share, up 29.1% over the same period in the previous year.

Analysts were expecting Fastenal to report earnings of $0.33 per share and revenue of $722 million.

Fastenal’s gross margin for the third quarter of 2011 was 51.9%, an improvement of 10 basis points from the same period in the previous year.

Fastenal also released its September sales results earlier today. The company reported net sales of $245 million for the month of September, representing an increase of 18.8% over the same period in the previous year. The company’s daily sales in the month of September were $11.66 million.

On Wednesday, Fastenal also announced a quarterly cash dividend. The company’s Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.14 per share. The dividend will be payable on November 22, 2011 to shareholders on record at the close of business on October 26, 2011.

Fastenal shares have outperformed the broad market this year. The stock has gained more than 12% so far this year, compared with a decline of almost 2.60% for the NASDAQ. In the last one month, however, the stock underperformed the broad market, falling 1.88%, compared with a gain of 2.47% for the NASDAQ.

Post Written By: Ed Liston Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing in his yacht.