09:09 AM EST, 01/17/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Fastenal ( FAST ) reported lower-than-expected fourth-quarter results on Friday amid persistent manufacturing-related challenges.

The distributor of industrial and construction supplies delivered earnings of $0.46 a share for the December quarter, unchanged from a year ago and below the FactSet-polled consensus of $0.48. Sales rose 3.7% year over year to $1.82 billion, missing the Street's view for $1.84 billion. The stock dropped 4.6% in premarket activity.

The company said its net daily sales growth of 2.1% for the quarter slowed compared with the rate of gain in the prior-year period, reflecting a continuous soft manufacturing environment throughout 2024. "This was exacerbated by many of our largest customers enacting unusually sharp production cuts in the last two weeks of December during holiday-related plant shutdowns," it said in a statement. Foreign-exchange headwinds weighed on the topline by about 20 basis points.

Fastenal ( FAST ) saw higher unit sales in the quarter amid growth at onsite locations opened in the past two years, more than offset by weaker activity with smaller customers and non-manufacturing end markets. Product pricing impact on sales was not material, compared with a "modestly positive" effect in the 2023 quarter, the company said.

The daily sales rate of fasteners declined 1.4% year over year, as a 0.4% gain in original equipment manufacturing was offset by a 4.5% decrease in maintenance, repair and operations. Safety supplies' daily sales rate climbed 4.8% while the rate for other products, which include janitorial supplies and cutting tools, inclined 4%.

By end markets, heavy manufacturing logged daily sales growth of 1.7%, decelerating from a 5.8% increase last year. The rate for the non-residential construction and reseller categories fell 4.1% and 11%, respectively.

The company signed 56 new onsite locations in the quarter, taking the total to 358 for the full year, but missing the company's target range of 375 to 400 signings. By the end of December, the firm had 2,031 active locations. Daily sales at onsite locations grew at a mid-single-digit rate on a yearly basis in the quarter.

Daily sales through e-business climbed about 28% in the quarter and represented roughly 31% of total sales in the period. The company anticipates signing between 28,000 and 30,000 machine equivalent units for FASTBin and FASTVend devices in 2025. FASTBin allows clients to digitally view inventory and automate the replenishment process, while FASTVend refers to vending machines.