Sales at Fastenal continued their strong upward trajectory in July, boding well for other distributors of industrial and construction supplies.

The Winona, MN-based company posted July total sales of $715 million that grew 12.8% on a daily sales basis — its strongest growth figure inflation-driven October 2022.

The Big Picture

• The July report showed Fastenal’s first double-digit year-over-year daily sales growth month since January 2023 and a continued acceleration after increases of 9.8% and 9.3% in June and May, respectively. 
• July’s daily sales growth figure topped the 12.3% estimate from Baird’s Industrial Distribution Equity Research unit
• July daily sales had strong growth across all geographies, accelerating month-over-month in the U.S. and international and a mild deceleration in Canada/Mexico
• Sales accelerated in all end markets month-over-month, with heavy manufacturing seeing the biggest increase
• Fasteners saw particularly strong acceleration in sales growth as its portion of total sales also ticked up
• By customer category, top 100 national accounts saw a substantial acceleration in daily sales

“Overall, a solid month and consistent with recent share gain momentum amid organizational and strategic change,” Baird said in an analyst note.

MDM Case Study: Fastenal (Premium access here) 

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 the strong figures shared in its 2Q25 report on July 14, this latest monthly report appears to indicate snowballing momentum for the company — and the greater industrial supplies/MRO/construction supply markets Fastenal serves. Pricing is undoubtedly having an impact, as the company’s 2Q earnings call noted three separate pricing actions implemented during April-June.

Fastenal Opens Salt Lake Distribution Center (July 25)

“The phased approach to this rollout resulted in 140 to 170 basis points of additional impact in the second quarter with momentum building as we ended the quarter,” Fastenal Chief Accounting Officer, Treasurer and Interim CFO Sheryl Lisowski said in the call. “Additional pricing actions will be necessary in the second half of 2025 with the potential to double the impact of pricing, depending upon where the deferred tariffs ultimately settle and the pace and execution of our actions.”

However, the extent to which those pricing actions were responsible for the accelerated daily sales gains in June and July is unclear vs. volume growth.

“Feedback from the regional leadership continues to reflect sluggish end market demand despite generally favorable outlook,” Lisowski added. “Trade policy continues to create some caution.”

MDM Case Study: LINC Systems (Premium access here) 

Go Deeper

Here’s the breakdown of Fastenal’s July 2025 sales report and how each metric compared with June:

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

• United States – 83.1% of sales: +13.1% (+9.7% in June)
• Canada/Mexico – 13.5% of sales: +9.1% (+9.4% in June)
• Rest of World – 3.4% of sales: +20.6% (+15.2% in June)

July Daily Sales by Product Line:

• Fasteners – 30.7% of sales: +14.6% (+9.5% in June)
• Safety – 22.7% of sales: +11.7% (+11.7% in June)
• Other – 46.6% of sales: +12.0% (+9.4% in June)

July Daily Sales by Customer End Market: 

• Heavy manufacturing – 43.0% of sales: +13.6% (+9.2% in June)
• Other manufacturing – 33.0% of sales: +14.2% (+12.1% in June)
• Non-residential construction – 5.0% of sales: +5.0% (+4.7% in June)
• Other – 11.2% of sales: +11.2% (+10.4% in June)

July Daily Sales by Customer Category: 

• Contract customers: +15.0% (+13.0% in June)
• 71.0% of Top 100 national accounts were growing (59.0% in June)
• Non-contract customers: +7.0% (+3.0% in June)
• 63.7% of in-market locations were growing (60.4% in June)
• FMI: +19.0% (+16.0% in June)
• eBusiness: +9.0% (+13.0% in June)

July Headcount

Fastenal ended July with a total headcount of 24,359 — virtually identical to June and up 3.1% year-over-year. Full-time selling personnel headcount ended July at 15,545 — down 0.7% from June and up 2.6% year-over-year.