Sales for HARDI distributor members increased by 3% during October, according to its monthly TRENDS report. The average annualized sales growth for the 12 months through October 2019 is 6.1%. 

“An early blast of cold air got heating season off to a strong start last year.  October this year was being compared to a month when five of our seven regions produced sales growth over 20%,” said HARDI Market Research & Benchmarking Analyst Brian Loftus. “We think some early season activity will be reflected in the November report.”

The Days Sales Outstanding (DSO), a measure of how quickly customers pay their bills, is now at 47 days. “The latest DSO is now a shade lower than the recent October reports,” said Loftus.  “No sign of economic stress in this indicator.”

“Sales growth for four of the past six months has been 3% or less,” said Loftus.  “This has cut the average annual growth rate in half from earlier this year.  Many economic indicators are sagging also, but the slower sales growth has a lot to do with being compared to a very strong prior year.”  Employment levels and consumer spending continue to provide the basis for a soft landing forecast in 2020. 

View the HARDI September report here.