Fastenal reported its sales figures for the month of February on March 6, showing that the industrial supplies distributor and supply chain solutions provider continued to see strong year-over-year gains in early 2023.

Winona, Minnesota-based Fastenal — No. 7 on MDM’s 2022 Top Industrial Distributors List — reported February 2023 total sales of $582 million, up 9.6% year-over-year, with daily sales up by that same margin. The rate of increase trailed January’s daily sales growth of 11.2%.

The February 2023 daily sales growth rate of 9.6% topped the 9.3% projection from Baird’s Industrial Distribution Equity Research team.

By geography in February:

• U.S. daily sales increased 9.1% year-over-year, compared to 11.2% in January and 22.0% in February 2022
• Canada/Mexico sales increased 15.8% year-over-year, compared to 17.3% in January and 20.6% in February 2022
• All other International daily sales increased 0.1% year-over-year, compared to an 8.5% decrease in January and a 7.9% increase in February 2022

By end market in February:

• Manufacturing daily sales increased 15.8% year-over-year, compared to 17.0% in January and 25.8% in February 2022
• Non-residential construction daily sales decreased 1.8% year-over-year, compared to a 1.7% decrease in January and a 19.5% increase in February 2022

By product line in February:

• Fasteners daily sales increased 8.0% year-over-year, compared to 11.6% in January and 28.0% in February 2022
• Safety daily sales increased 3.2% year-over-year, compared to 6.2% in January and 18.8% in February 2022
• All other daily sales increased 13.8% year-over-year, compared to 14.1% in January and 17.3% in February 2022

By customer type in February:

• National accounts daily sales growth was 14.0% year-over-year, compared to 16.0% in January and 26.0% in February 2022
• Non-national accounts daily sales growth was 4.0% year-over-year, compared to 6.0% in January and 16.0% in February 2022
• 83.0% of Fastenal’s Top 100 national accounts grew daily sales year-over-year in February, compared to 78.0% in January and 89.0% in February 2022
• 59.5% of Fastenal’s public branches grew daily sales year-over-year in February, compared to 63.5% in January and 76.9% in February 2022

Fastenal ended February with a total company headcount of 22,706, up 0.6% from January and up 8.3% year-over-year. Total selling personnel headcount of 14,658 was up 7.1% year-over-year, while non-selling personnel was up 8.0%.

Looking forward, Baird is projecting March daily sales growth of 9.6% for Fastenal.