Fastenal Company (FAST) — Company Research

Last Updated: 1 September 2026

Fastenal sells fasteners, safety supplies and maintenance products to manufacturers, and it does so through a model almost nobody else runs at scale: roughly 1,600 branches, thousands of in-plant Onsite locations, and nearly 141,000 weighted vending and bin devices bolted to customers' walls. The company is having a conspicuously strong 2026, with second-quarter sales up 14.7% and July daily sales accelerating to 15.5%, but the composition of that growth deserves scrutiny. Roughly 290 basis points of the second quarter's growth came from tariff-driven price increases rather than volume, gross margin fell 75 basis points, and operating cash flow actually declined year on year. Meanwhile the shares trade on about 42 times trailing earnings, a new chief executive took over on 16 July 2026, and short interest sits at 2.7% of float, elevated for a company of this size. This report separates the durable parts of the story from the cyclical and the accounting.

1. Company Snapshot

Field	Value
Ticker / Exchange	FAST, Nasdaq Stock Market
Headquarters	2001 Theurer Boulevard, Winona, Minnesota, United States
Sector / Industry	Industrials, wholesale distribution of industrial and construction supplies
CEO / Leadership	Jeffery M. Watts, Chief Executive Officer effective 16 July 2026, previously President and Chief Sales Officer. He succeeded Daniel L. Florness, who had led the company since January 2016. Max H. Tunnicliff, Senior EVP and Chief Financial Officer since November 2025. Sheryl A. Lisowski, EVP, Chief Accounting Officer and Treasurer.
Employees	24,489 full- and part-time at the end of 2025, equal to 21,602 full-time equivalents. The latest quarterly figure is 24,795 absolute and 22,230 FTE at 30 June 2026.
Revenue (FY2025)	$8,200.5m, up 8.7% on FY2024
Net income (FY2025)	$1,258.4m
GAAP diluted EPS (FY2025)	$1.09, post-split basis
Market capitalisation	~$56.4bn (1,147.5m shares at the $49.15 close, 1 September 2026)
Operating margin (Q2 2026)	21.0%, flat year on year
Branch network	1,595 branches at 31 December 2025, across 25 countries, supported by 15 North American distribution centres plus two in Asia and two in Europe
Founded	Partnership formed 1967, first branch opened in Winona that year, incorporated in Minnesota in 1968
Index membership	S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 constituent; Dividend Aristocrat

One corporate action dominates any historical comparison: Fastenal executed a two-for-one stock split effective at the close of business on 21 May 2025, with shares trading on a split-adjusted basis from 22 May 2025. Every per-share figure in this report is stated on the post-split basis. You can follow the price action on our Live Charts page.

2. Bull Case and Bear Case

Bull Case

• Share gain in a flat market: Fastenal grew net sales 14.7% in the second quarter of 2026 while MSC Industrial, its closest listed comparator, has posted three consecutive years of revenue decline. Management describes the manufacturing backdrop as merely a modest improvement, so the growth is displacement of regional competitors rather than a cyclical tide.
• Physical switching costs that compound: 140,789 weighted FASTBin and FASTVend devices were installed at 30 June 2026, up 6.5% year on year, with consumption data feeding replenishment through Fastenal's own systems. Displacing the incumbent means removing hardware from the customer's plant and re-plumbing procurement, and FMI now represents 44.6% of sales.
• The large-customer engine is working: customer sites spending $50,000 or more per month reached 3,125 in the second quarter, up 16.5% year on year, generating $1,381.2m of quarterly sales at an average of $147,328 per site per month. Contract customers are now 75.8% of sales and growing at 17.6%.
• Balance sheet strength and capital returns: total debt was just $120.0m at 30 June 2026 against $204.7m of cash, so the company runs a small net cash position. Buybacks resumed in 2026 after none in 2024 or 2025, and the quarterly dividend was raised to $0.26 in July, up 18.2% on the $0.22 paid a year earlier.
• Low marginal capital on incremental growth: the Onsite model bolts onto sunk branch and distribution-centre infrastructure, which is why operating margin held at 21.0% in the second quarter even as gross margin fell 75 basis points; SG&A leverage of 80 basis points fully offset it.

Bear Case

• Growth is substantially price, not volume: product pricing added roughly 350 basis points to first-quarter sales growth and 290 basis points to the second quarter, against immaterial contribution in the first quarter of 2025. Several of the underlying tariffs are being challenged in the courts, and a rollback would remove that contribution with no volume offset.
• Gross margin is already eroding and price/cost is negative: gross margin fell to 44.6% in the second quarter from 45.3%, of which about 40 basis points was unfavourable net price and cost, meaning Fastenal is not fully recovering tariff inflation. Management states the shift toward larger customers will likely continue to reduce gross profit percentage into the foreseeable future.
• The SG&A offset is finite: operating margin held flat only because sales grew about 15%. If daily sales growth normalises toward high single digits, the SG&A leverage disappears and the gross-margin decline falls straight through to operating profit.
• Valuation leaves little room: the shares trade on roughly 42 times trailing earnings and about 13.9 times book with a 1.9% yield, against five-year revenue growth of roughly 8% a year. Grainger carries 2.2 times Fastenal's revenue for a market capitalisation only about 9% larger.
• Cash conversion has deteriorated into a capital-spending step-up: second-quarter operating cash flow fell 4.6% year on year despite net income rising 15.9%, converting only 69.4% of net income against 84.4% a year earlier, as receivables grew 17.6%. Capital expenditure is simultaneously guided up from $230.6m to between $310m and $330m.

3. Business Segments

Fastenal reports a single reportable segment; each geographic region is an operating segment and they are aggregated. The company does, however, disaggregate revenue several ways. The product-line split for FY2025 is set out below, with the year each line was introduced.

Segment / category	% of revenue	What it is
Fasteners	30.5%	The founding 1967 product line: screws, bolts, nuts and related components, both standard and custom. Still the largest line but shrinking as a share, down from 32.4% in 2023.
Safety supplies	22.2%	Introduced 1999 and now the largest non-fastener line: personal protective equipment, gloves, eyewear and related consumables. Home of the Body Guard private-label brand.
Janitorial supplies	9.0%	Added 1996. Cleaning chemicals, paper and facility consumables, a classic high-frequency vending product.
Tools	8.3%	Added 1993. Hand and power tools sold into both manufacturing and construction customers.
Hydraulics and pneumatics	6.9%	Added 1996. Fluid-power components, hoses and fittings for production equipment maintenance.
Material handling	5.7%	Added 1996. Storage, lifting and movement equipment for plant and warehouse use.
Cutting tools	5.2%	Added 1996. Consumable machining tooling, a recurring-revenue line tied directly to machine utilisation.
Electrical supplies	4.7%	Added 1997. Wiring, connectors and electrical consumables.
Welding supplies	4.3%	Added 1997. Consumables, gas and equipment for fabrication customers.
Other	3.2%	Remaining lines not separately captioned.

By end market, manufacturing was 75.9% of FY2025 sales, non-residential construction 8.1% and other 16.0%. By geography, the United States contributed $6,818.9m or 83.2%, Canada and Mexico $1,110.2m or 13.5%, and all other foreign markets $271.4m or 3.3%. Notably, Canada and Mexico is now the faster-growing region, with July 2026 daily sales up 18.2% against 14.8% in the United States.

4. Business Model and Moat

How it makes money. Fastenal buys industrial consumables in bulk, holds them close to the customer, and charges a distribution margin for availability and service rather than for the lowest unit price. Its stated purpose is to reduce customers' total cost of procurement, not to undercut on any individual item, which is why gross margin runs near 45% against roughly 31% at a broad-line distributor such as Ferguson. Revenue is recognised across roughly 93,000 customer sites with no single customer representing 5% or more of consolidated net sales in 2023, 2024 or 2025.

The service ladder is the moat. The model escalates: a local branch wins the account, an Onsite location puts Fastenal staff and inventory inside the customer's own plant, FMI devices automate replenishment, and digital ordering closes the loop. Management describes the Onsite as providing a competitive advantage through stronger customer relationships with a relatively low incremental investment given the existing branch and distribution structure. That clause is the economics in one sentence: each incremental Onsite rides on infrastructure already paid for, so incremental returns are high.

Why the hardware matters more than the software. The genuinely defensible asset is physical. Fastenal's property base includes $1,524.6m of shelving, industrial vending and equipment at cost, the single largest asset class on its balance sheet. Once nearly 141,000 weighted devices are installed in customer plants and reorder logic runs through Fastenal's systems, switching supplier means a physical removal project. This is precisely where a web-native competitor cannot easily follow.

A deliberately shrinking tail. Fastenal is concentrating on large accounts and letting small ones go. Total sites served fell from 101,440 to 93,283 year on year while sales grew 14.7%. A site spending $50,000 or more per month generates about $147,328 monthly; the sub-$5,000 tail generates about $984. The trade-off is margin: management is explicit that these larger relationships typically carry lower gross margins and that Onsite locations carry a lower private-label mix.

5. Financial Health

Figures below come from Fastenal's Form 10-K filings, quarterly earnings press releases and SEC XBRL company facts. All per-share figures are stated on a post-split basis following the two-for-one split of 21 May 2025.

Fiscal Year	Revenue ($m)	YoY %	GAAP EPS	Adjusted EPS	Dividend/share	Long-term debt (YE)
FY2021	$6,010.9m	+6.4%	$0.80†	$0.80‡	$0.56†	$330.0m
FY2022	$6,980.6m	+16.1%	$0.94†	$0.94‡	$0.62†	$353.2m
FY2023	$7,346.7m	+5.2%	$1.01	$1.01‡	$0.89	$200.0m
FY2024	$7,546.0m	+2.7%	$1.00	$1.00‡	$0.78	$125.0m
FY2025	$8,200.5m	+8.7%	$1.09	$1.09‡	$0.875	$100.0m

† FY2021 and FY2022 per-share figures were filed on a pre-split basis and were never restated in an annual report; they are shown here halved so the series is internally consistent. As filed, FY2021 diluted EPS was $1.60 and FY2022 was $1.89. FY2023 onward are as restated in the FY2025 Form 10-K. ‡ Fastenal reports no adjusted or non-GAAP earnings measure of any kind; the GAAP figure is repeated here for completeness. Dividend per share is cash dividends paid per share; the FY2023 figure includes a special dividend of $0.19 paid in the fourth quarter, so regular dividends that year were $0.70. Long-term debt is the non-current balance-sheet figure; total debt including the current portion was $390.0m, $555.0m, $260.0m, $200.0m and $125.0m for FY2021 to FY2025 respectively.

Quarter / Half	Revenue	Adjusted EPS	GAAP EPS
Q2 2026	$2,386.9m	$0.33‡	$0.33
Q1 2026	$2,201.7m	$0.30‡	$0.30
Q4 2025	$2,027.4m	$0.26‡	$0.26
Q3 2025	$2,133.3m	$0.29‡	$0.29
Q2 2025	$2,080.3m	$0.29‡	$0.29
FY2025 total	$8,200.5m	$1.09‡	$1.09

Two features stand out. First, the post-split earnings line went backwards in FY2024, $1.00 against $1.01 in FY2023, before recovering to $1.09 in FY2025, which is a reminder that this is a cyclical distributor and not a secular compounder. Second, debt has been steadily retired: long-term debt fell from $330.0m at the end of FY2021 to $100.0m at the end of FY2025 and $50.0m at 30 June 2026, leaving total debt of $120.0m against $204.7m of cash.

On the cash flow statement, FY2025 operating cash flow was $1,295.9m, equal to 103.0% of net income, against purchases of property and equipment of $245.3m and depreciation and amortisation of $179.2m. On a trailing twelve-month basis to 30 June 2026, net sales were $8,749.4m, operating income $1,775.1m, net income $1,352.1m, diluted EPS $1.17, operating cash flow $1,399.2m, capital expenditure $243.3m and depreciation and amortisation $179.6m. Cash conversion is the item to watch: the second quarter converted just 69.4% of net income into operating cash as receivables outgrew sales.

6. Valuation Metrics

Raw metrics, September 2026. Not opinions on whether the stock is cheap or expensive.

Metric	Value
Market cap	~$56.4bn (1,147,497,573 shares at the $49.15 close, 1 September 2026)
Enterprise value	~$56.3bn (market cap $56.4bn plus total debt $120.0m less cash $204.7m, per the 30 June 2026 balance sheet). Fastenal carries net cash of $84.7m, so enterprise value sits slightly below market capitalisation. Operating lease liabilities of $321.5m are excluded from debt here.
Trailing P/E (GAAP)	~42x on trailing twelve-month diluted EPS of $1.17. Fastenal publishes no adjusted earnings measure, so there is no alternative earnings basis to quote.
P/E (forward)	~35x on market-consensus forward earnings of about $1.40 per share. Fastenal issues no revenue or earnings guidance of any kind, so this is a consensus input rather than a company figure.
P/S (TTM)	~6.4x (market cap $56.4bn / trailing twelve-month net sales $8,749.4m)
EV/EBITDA (TTM)	~28.8x (enterprise value $56.3bn / EBITDA $1,954.7m; EBITDA = trailing operating income $1,775.1m plus depreciation and amortisation $179.6m, the latter being depreciation of $168.5m plus intangible amortisation of $10.7m on an annual basis). No one-off items distort this figure.
P/FCF	~48.8x (market cap $56.4bn / free cash flow $1,155.9m; free cash flow = trailing operating cash flow $1,399.2m less capital expenditure $243.3m). Guided 2026 capital expenditure of $310m to $330m will compress this further in the second half.
Price/book	~13.9x (share price $49.15 against book value of $3.55 per share; total shareholders' equity was $4,068.8m at 30 June 2026)
52-week high	$52.92
52-week low	$38.97
Short interest (% of float)	~2.7% (31,204,882 shares short at the 14 August 2026 settlement against a float of 1,144.8m shares). Insider ownership is only about 0.11%, so float and shares outstanding are effectively identical here and there is no float-basis discrepancy.
Days to cover	~4.0 days at the 14 August 2026 settlement, against average daily volume of 7,876,118 shares. The 31 July 2026 reading peaked at 35.9m shares short before covering into the August highs.
Dividend	$0.26 per share per quarter as declared on 10 July 2026, $1.04 annualised, a yield of about 2.1%. Dividends declared in 2026 to date total $0.74.

7. What Are They Building

A step-change in distribution capacity. Fastenal broke ground on 24 March 2026 on a new Southeast regional operations and logistics centre in Carrollton, Georgia, an estimated $90m investment replacing the existing 252,000 square foot Atlanta regional distribution centre. It is slated to open in spring 2027 and the site can expand to a 900,000 square foot footprint, with what the company describes as next-generation processing software and material handling equipment. This is the largest single driver of the 2026 capital step-up to between $310m and $330m, alongside higher trucking spend and IT projects deferred out of 2025.

Digital and FMI targets, with visible slippage. The 2026 goal is to run 66% of sales volume through the Digital Footprint, which combines FMI with the non-FMI portion of eBusiness. The second-quarter reading was 61.6%, leaving a 4.4 point gap to close in two quarters. Fastenal missed the equivalent 2025 goal, reaching 62.4% in December against a 66% to 68% target, blaming lower volume through FMI devices amid a rapidly changing tariff environment. It then cut its 2026 FMI signings goal mid-year from 28,000 to 30,000 weighted device units down to 27,000 to 29,000. First-half signings were 13,943, up 8.3%.

A changed disclosure framework. Fastenal stopped publishing an Onsite location count in 2025, replacing branch-opening and Onsite-signing metrics with customer-site spend bands. The new proxy is the count of sites spending $50,000 or more per month, 3,125 in the second quarter of 2026 against 2,683 a year earlier. Investors comparing against pre-2025 commentary should note the metric change rather than assume the disclosure is missing.

Governance and capital structure. Vishal Talwar, EVP and Chief Digital and Information Officer of FedEx, joined the board on 12 June 2026, expanding it from eleven to twelve directors, a deliberate digital and supply-chain-technology appointment. Separately, shareholders approved a restricted stock unit plan for employees and directors on 23 April 2026, moving Fastenal away from its historic all-options compensation model. In June the company refinanced into an $835m unsecured revolver maturing 18 June 2031, removing the consolidated EBITDA covenant in favour of interest-coverage and leverage tests, and adding step-up language contemplating a qualified acquisition of at least $750m, notable for a company that has made no acquisitions at all.

8. Competitive Position

Fastenal publishes no market-size or market-share estimate of its own. Third-party estimates of the North American maintenance, repair and operations distribution market cluster around $162bn to $165bn, against which Fastenal's FY2025 North American sales of $7,929.1m imply roughly 4.8% share on our own arithmetic; that is an estimate, not a disclosed figure. The structural point is that the market is highly fragmented and the two largest players together hold barely 12%.

Peer	Market cap (September 2026)	Key 2025 metric
W.W. Grainger (GWW)	~$61.7bn	FY2025 net sales $17,942m, up 4.5% from $17,168m. Carries 2.2 times Fastenal's revenue for a market capitalisation only about 9% larger.
Fastenal (FAST)	~$56.4bn	FY2025 net sales $8,200.5m, up 8.7%, with a 20.2% operating margin
Ferguson Enterprises (FERG)	~$43.4bn	FY2025 net sales $30.8bn for the year ended 31 July 2025, up 3.8%, at an 8.5% operating margin, versus Fastenal's 20.2%. Different product mix and service intensity.
Applied Industrial Technologies (AIT)	~$11.9bn	FY2026 net sales $4,966.7m for the year ended 30 June 2026, up 8.8% from $4,563.4m
MSC Industrial Direct (MSM)	~$6.6bn	FY2025 net sales $3,769.5m for the year ended 30 August 2025, down from $3,821.0m and $4,009.3m in the two prior years, a third consecutive annual decline

The competitor that does not fit the table is Amazon Business, which Amazon does not report as a separate segment. It announced on 21 July 2026 that it had passed $60bn in annualised gross sales serving more than 11 million organisations, having added 1.8 million organisations in the first half of 2026 alone. That figure is gross merchandise value including third-party marketplace volume, so it is not directly comparable to Fastenal's net sales, but the direction is unambiguous. Tellingly, Fastenal's own eBusiness sales fell as a share of its mix in the second quarter, to 29.4% from 30.0%, meaning its digital growth is coming from FMI hardware rather than web commerce, which is exactly where Amazon competes. For sector context and scheduled releases, see our Economic Calendar.

9. Insider Activity

Chief Executive Jeffery M. Watts, who took the role on 16 July 2026, has not appeared as a buyer or seller in the 2026 Form 4 record. Across every Form 4 filed for Fastenal in 2026, every acquisition of stock is either a code-A option grant or a code-M option exercise, and every disposition is a code-S sale, almost all of them same-day exercise-and-sell, plus one gift. There were no genuine open-market purchases by any insider during 2026. On 2 January 2026 the compensation committee granted options over 1,508,081 shares at a $41.00 exercise price, which generated roughly twenty filings that some aggregators misreport as buying.

Name	Date	Type	Shares	Price	Value	Plan Type
Rita J. Heise	5 Aug 2026	Option exercise and sale	34,964	$50.0544	~$1,750,102	Open market, not 10b5-1
Reyne K. Wisecup	5 Mar 2026	Option exercise and sale	36,920	$47.3435	~$1,747,922	Open market, not 10b5-1
Scott Satterlee	23 Jan 2026	Option exercise and sale	15,964	$44.1903	~$705,454	Open market, not 10b5-1
Donnalee K. Papenfuss	13 Aug 2026	Option exercise and sale	9,258	~$51.40	~$475,758	Open market, not 10b5-1
Michael J. Ancius	10 Aug 2026	Option exercise and sale	3,000	$52.00	~$156,000	Open market, not 10b5-1
Michael J. Ancius	28 Jul 2026	Option exercise and sale	3,000	$49.00	~$147,000	Open market, not 10b5-1
Michael J. Ancius	13 Aug 2026	Gift, no proceeds	400	Nil	Nil	Code G gift
Daniel L. Florness	2 Jan 2026	Option grant, not a purchase	85,365	$41.00 exercise price	No cash paid	Code A award

Aggregate insider sale proceeds across all 2026 filings were approximately $4.98m, concentrated in July and August as the stock approached its 52-week high of $52.92. The Q2 2026 Form 10-Q states that no director or officer adopted, modified or terminated a Rule 10b5-1 trading plan during the quarter, so these should be read as discretionary sales following option exercises rather than pre-scheduled plan disposals. Insider ownership stands at roughly 0.11% of shares outstanding. One caution for readers using screeners: two code-P open-market purchases totalling just $3,101 appear in the 2026 filing record, but they are dated April 2025 and were reported late, and an amendment corrected their prices to a pre-split basis.

10. Key Risks

• Tariff dependency cuts both ways: Fastenal imports a significant quantity of product from Asia and states that its tariff exposure may become more impactful in subsequent quarters as lower-tariff inventory is depleted and replaced with inventory subject to new and expanded tariffs. Pricing actions now contribute roughly 290 basis points of sales growth. Because several of these duties are under legal challenge, a rollback would strip out that growth contribution without any volume offset.
• Gross margin compression is structural, not transient: margin fell 75 basis points year on year in the second quarter, with about 40 basis points from unfavourable net price and cost. Management states plainly that the mix shift toward larger customers will likely continue to reduce gross profit percentage into the foreseeable future, and Onsite locations carry a lower private-label mix, which compounds the effect.
• Concentration in one cyclical end market: manufacturing is 75.9% of sales, with heavy manufacturing alone at about 44% of second-quarter revenue. Fastenal describes the 2025 backdrop as sluggish and 2026 as only a modest improvement, and non-residential construction, 8.1% of sales, has grown in only five of the last fifteen quarters. MSC Industrial's three straight years of revenue decline is the corroborating evidence that the pie is not growing.
• Cash conversion and the capital step-up: second-quarter operating cash flow of $265.7m was down 4.6% despite net income rising 15.9%, converting 69.4% of net income against a five-year second-quarter average near 79.6%, because larger customers carry longer payment terms. Cash fell from $276.8m to $204.7m across the first half while capital expenditure is guided up roughly 40%.
• Competition from Amazon Business and web-native distributors: Fastenal's own filings flag the emergence of non-traditional web-based competitors. Amazon Business reached $60bn of annualised gross sales by July 2026, and Fastenal's eBusiness share of its own mix declined year on year in the second quarter, indicating it is not winning the pure e-commerce contest.
• Leadership turnover at both top financial and executive roles: the chief executive changed on 16 July 2026 and the chief financial officer has been in post only since November 2025. Fastenal placed the succession inside its Item 1A risk factors, warning of consequences if it is unable to manage the transition. The whole of the second half of 2026 is being executed by a new pairing.
• Strategic goal slippage: the company missed its 2025 Digital Footprint target, cut its 2026 FMI signings goal mid-year, and must add 4.4 points of Digital Footprint penetration in two quarters to hit its 2026 objective. These are the operating metrics the equity story is built on.
• Valuation and wage inflation: at roughly 42 times trailing earnings and 13.9 times book, the shares price in continued execution. Meanwhile employee-related expenses are 70% to 75% of SG&A and rose 10.5% year on year in the fourth quarter of 2025, a cost base that will not flex down quickly if sales growth normalises.

11. Recent Developments

• 13 March 2026 — New Southeast distribution facility announced. A regional operations and logistics centre in Carrollton, Georgia, an estimated $90m investment replacing the 252,000 square foot Atlanta distribution centre, with groundbreaking held on 24 March 2026 and opening slated for spring 2027.
• 30 March 2026 — Fastenal marks 25 years in Mexico. Canada and Mexico together represent 13.5% of FY2025 revenue and have become the company's fastest-growing geography.
• 10 April 2026 — Dividend declared alongside resumed buybacks. For the first time since 2023 the release paired the dividend with repurchase activity. Fastenal bought no stock at all in 2024 or 2025; in the second quarter of 2026 it repurchased 650,000 shares at an average $45.72, or $29.7m.
• 13 April 2026 — First-quarter results. Net sales $2,201.7m, up 12.4%, gross margin 44.6% and down 50 basis points, operating margin 20.3%, net income $339.8m and diluted EPS $0.30. Operating cash flow was 111% of net income and product pricing contributed roughly 350 basis points of growth.
• 23 April 2026 — Annual meeting approves a new compensation architecture. Shareholders approved an employee restricted stock unit plan and a non-employee director stock and RSU plan, moving Fastenal away from its historic all-options model.
• 4 June 2026 — May sales show underlying acceleration. Net sales of $751.5m, up 9.3% on one fewer business day, meaning daily sales rose 14.8%, with Canada and Mexico up 20.3% and the rest of world up 29.9%.
• 12 June 2026 — Vishal Talwar elected to the board. The EVP and Chief Digital and Information Officer of FedEx and President of FedEx DataWorks joined the nominating and corporate governance committee, expanding the board from eleven to twelve.
• 18 June 2026 — Credit agreement refinanced. An $835m unsecured revolver with Wells Fargo, maturity extended to 18 June 2031, the consolidated EBITDA covenant removed in favour of a minimum 3.00 times interest coverage and maximum 3.00 times leverage, and the master note agreement capacity cut from $900m to $600m.
• 10 July 2026 — Quarterly dividend raised to $0.26. Up from $0.24 in each of the first two quarters of 2026 and 18.2% above the $0.22 paid in the third quarter of 2025.
• 14 July 2026 — Second-quarter results. Net sales $2,386.9m and daily sales both up 14.7%, gross margin 44.6% and down 75 basis points, operating margin flat at 21.0%, net income $382.8m up 15.9%, diluted EPS $0.33. The 2026 FMI signings goal was cut to 27,000 to 29,000 weighted device units.
• 16 July 2026 — Chief executive transition takes effect. Jeffery M. Watts, previously President and Chief Sales Officer, became Chief Executive Officer and a director, succeeding Daniel L. Florness two days after the second-quarter print.
• 21 July 2026 — Amazon Business passes $60bn in annualised gross sales. Serving more than 11 million organisations worldwide after adding 1.8 million in the first half of 2026, a directly relevant competitive datapoint for Fastenal's eBusiness channel.
• 6 August 2026 — July sales accelerate to 15.5%. Net sales $825.8m on 22 business days in both years, so daily sales also rose 15.5%, ahead of the second-quarter average of 14.7%. Heavy manufacturing rose 18.7% and non-residential construction 16.9%.
• 5 to 17 August 2026 — Cluster of insider selling near the 52-week high. Director Rita Heise sold 34,964 shares at $50.0544, director Michael Ancius sold 3,000 at $52.00 and gifted 400, and EVP Donnalee Papenfuss sold 9,258 at about $51.40. All were exercise-and-sell transactions with no offsetting purchases.

12. Key Dates

• Expected October 2026 — third-quarter 2026 results, indicated for 14 October 2026 before market open with a call at 9:00 a.m. central. As at 1 September 2026 Fastenal had not yet issued its formal conference-call announcement, which it typically publishes two to three weeks ahead, so treat the date as indicated rather than confirmed. Third-quarter 2025 results were released on 13 October 2025.
• Expected September 2026 — August 2026 monthly sales data, due on the fourth business day of the month under the company's stated policy. Fastenal publishes consolidated monthly net sales on its investor relations site rather than by Form 8-K, which is unusual for a company of this size and gives a near real-time read on United States industrial demand.
• Expected October 2026 — declaration of the fourth-quarter 2026 dividend, which on the established cadence would accompany third-quarter earnings with payment in late November. No dates have been announced.
• 25 August 2026 — third-quarter 2026 dividend of $0.26 per share paid, declared 10 July 2026 with a record date of 28 July 2026.
• 14 July 2026 — second-quarter 2026 results released and the FMI signings goal reduced.
• 16 July 2026 — Jeffery M. Watts became Chief Executive Officer.
• 23 April 2026 — 2026 annual meeting held in Winona, Minnesota; the 2027 meeting date has not been announced.
• 2 January 2027 — expected date of the annual stock option grant, which Fastenal has made effective on 2 January in recent years.
• 18 June 2031 — maturity of the $835m revolving credit facility as refinanced in June 2026.

Fastenal issues no revenue or earnings guidance, so the monthly sales releases and the quarterly Digital Footprint and FMI signings figures are the practical checkpoints between reporting dates. Readers can discuss the industrial cycle on our Forum.

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