Following a modest increase in January, Fastenal reported a 14-month high in February for daily sales growth, as the company’s second largest market, Other Manufacturing, saw a strong month-to-month gain.

The Winona, MN-based distributor of industrial, safety and construction supplies, shared its February sales information on March 6, which showed that growth was driven by Fastenal’s Other Manufacturing segment as it improved 9.8 percentage points compared to January.

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The Big Picture

• The February report showed that daily sales increased 5.0% year-over-year, accelerating from January’s 1.9% increase that was impacted by stiff weather headwinds. Total sales of $627 million were unchanged year-over-year.
• U.S. daily sales growth increased month-to-month, while Canada/Mexico likewise accelerated. The rest international drastically increased by 9.2% year-over-year and flipped from an 8.8% decline in January.
• Daily sales growth continued in the company’s top two end markets of Heavy Manufacturing and Other Manufacturing, but continued to decelerate in Non-Residential Construction and Reseller
• A greater portion of Fastenal’s largest national account customers saw daily sales growth vs. January. Likewise, a bigger portion of in-market locations had growth in February. Growth from non-national accounts continued to decline in February.

MDM’s Take

Fastenal is the only publicly traded industrial distributor that shares a monthly sales report, making it a good barometer for the overall health and demand status for the markets it serves. Following a 3.5-year low point for daily sales growth in December and a modest rebound in January, February’s drastic acceleration suggests that demand is improving. The ensuing months will help illustrate if February was a temporary rebound driven by customers frontloading on product ahead of tariff impacts, or something more long-term.

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Go Deeper

Here’s the breakdown of Fastenal’s February 2025 sales report and how each metric compared with January's:

February Daily Sales by Geography, Year-Over-Year:

• United States – 83.2% of sales: +4.5% (+1.7% in Jan.)
• Canada/Mexico – 13.6% of sales: +7.4% (+5.9% in Jan.)
• Rest of World – 3.2% of sales: +9.2% (-8.8% in Jan.)

February Daily Sales by Product Line:

• Fasteners – 30.2% of sales: +0.6% (-1.7% in Jan.)
• Safety – 21.9% of sales: +8.5% (+3.7% in Jan.)
• Other – 47.9% of sales: +6.8% (+3.5% in Jan.)

February Daily Sales by Customer End Market: 

• Heavy manufacturing – 43.5% of sales: +4.8% (+1.8% in Jan.)
• Other manufacturing – 33.2% of sales: +10.4% (+6.7% in Jan.)
• Non-residential construction – 7.7% of sales: -6.7% (-3.6% in Jan.)
• Other – 15.6% of sales: +2.0% (+4.5% in Feb.)

February Daily Sales by Customer Category: 

• National accounts: +9.0% (+4.0% in Jan.)
• 59.0% of Top 100 national accounts were growing (58.0% in Jan.)
• Non-national accounts: -5.0% (-2.0% in Feb.)
• 52.0% of in-market locations were growing (49.4% in Jan.)
• FMI: +9.0% (+7.0% in Jan.)
• eBusiness: +13.0% (+8.0% in Jan.)

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February Headcount:

Fastenal ended February with a total headcount of 24,013, up 1.7% from January and up 0.9% year-over-year. Full-time selling headcount of 21,245 was up 1.2% from January and likewise up 0.5% year-over-year.