Fastenal (FAST) Stock Slides on Q2 Earnings Miss
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Fastenal (FAST) - Get Report are falling 5.2% to $43 in pre-market trading Tuesday after the Winona, MN-based company reported weaker-than-expected earnings for the 2016 second quarter.
Before today's opening bell, the distributor of industrial and construction supplies posted earnings of 45 cents per diluted share, below analysts' estimates of 48 cents per share.
Revenue for the period was $1.01 billion, while Wall Street was projecting revenue of $1.02 billion.
"While our customers value the capabilities we bring to the table, in the last eight quarters this group of customers has seen a contraction in its production and therefore its need for fasteners," the company said in a statement.
"During this time frame, our fastener product line has seen its daily growth decrease from about 10% growth in the last six months of 2014 to about 6% contraction in the fourth quarter of 2015 and about 2% contraction in the first half of 2016," Fastenal added.
Separately, TheStreet Ratings Team has a "Buy" rating with a score of B+ on the stock.
The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures, growth in earnings per share, notable return on equity and expanding profit margins.
The team believes its strengths outweigh the fact that the company shows weak operating cash flow.
Recently, TheStreet Ratings objectively rated this stock according to its "risk-adjusted" total return prospect over a 12-month investment horizon. Not based on the news in any given day, the rating may differ from Jim Cramer's view or that of this articles's author.
You can view the full analysis from the report here: FAST