Shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) stock opened in the red after the company reported first-quarter earnings. For the period, sales tallied in at $1.859 billion, up 9.1% year-over-year (YOY) and beating the Zacks consensus estimate for $1.84 billion. Diluted EPS came to 52 cents as well. That also beat the estimate for 51 cents. The industrial distributor reported revenue of $1.704 billion and a diluted EPS of 47 cents the same time last year.
The company noted the following in the Q1 report:
“The impact of product pricing on net sales in the first quarter of 2023 was 290 to 320 basis points compared to the first quarter of 2022. The increase reflects carryover from broad pricing actions taken in the prior year designed to mitigate marketplace inflation for our products and services and, to a lesser degree, targeted actions in the first quarter of 2023 intended to address gross margin pressure for our non-fastener and non-safety products.”
So, why exactly is FAST stock falling on the news? For one, gross profit as a percentage of net sales declined to 45.7% from 46.6%. Operating and administrative expenses also rose by 5%, although its percentage of net sales declined to 24.6% from 25.5%. Barron’s also reports that average daily sales for nonresidential construction markets fell by 2.4% YOY.
All in all, investors shouldn’t be too concerned about Fastenal’s recent earnings report. The company, which began operations in 1967, is still steadily making progress today.
5 Investors Betting Big on FAST Stock
Tracking institutional ownership is important, as these large investors provide liquidity and support for stocks. During Q4, a healthy 981 13F filers disclosed a stake in FAST stock, an increase of 15 filers from the prior quarter. Among these filers, 14 of them own Fastenal in their top 10 positions. In total, the 13F filers own 449.1 million shares, up from 441.2 million shares. Meanwhile, the institutional put/call ratio sits at 0.98, up from 0.81. That’s equivalent to 1.62 million puts and 1.65 million calls, implying a neutral options stance. With that in mind, let’s take a look at the top five shareholders of FAST:
- Vanguard: 69.69 million shares. Vanguard acquired 685,096 shares during Q4.
- BlackRock (NYSE:BLK): 45.01 million shares. BlackRock acquired 179,654 shares during Q4.
- State Street (NYSE:STT): 28.21 million shares. State Street acquired 220,014 shares during Q4.
- Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE:BK): 26.22 million shares. BK sold off 707,750 shares during Q4.
- Geode Capital Management: 13.55 million shares. Geode acquired 278,328 shares during Q4.
On the date of publication, Eddie Pan did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
