Hot stock to watch: The largest North American fastener distributor Fastenal Co (FAST) Thursday released financial statement for the fiscal 2012 second quarter, showing net profit rose 19.02%, thanks to the increase in the number of stores, but revenue still fell short of analysts’ expectations.
As of the quarter ended June 30, the company’s net profit increased to $112 million, or 38 cents per share, an advance of 19.02% from $94.1 million, or 32 cents per share a year earlier. The revenue figure was also higher than the average estimate of 37 cents of the analysts polled by FactSet Research.
Revenue grew 15% from $702 million in the same period of last year to $805 million, below the average analyst estimate of $808 million.
Fastenal said the growth of sales in April and Mrach were slower than January and February, in spite of sales in June had begun to rally. In addition, the unfavorable exchange rate movements also weighed on the revenue growth.
FAST stock price surged 6.28%, or $2.50, to $42.31 in the regular trading on the Nasdaq Tursday. In the after-hours trading, FAST stock price continued to move up 1.44%. Over the past 52 weeks, FAST stock price fluctuated between $29.14 and $55.05. Fastenal currently has a market value of $12.53 billion.