Shares of Fastenal Co. FAST, -1.53% fell 1.2% in premarket trading Thursday, even after the industrial and construction supplies distributor reported third-quarter profit and sales that rose above expectations. Net income increased to $284.6 million, or 50 cents a share, from $243.5 million, or 42 cents a share, in the year-ago period. The FactSet consensus for earnings per share was 50 cents. Sales grew 16.0% to $1.80 billion, topping the FactSet consensus of $1.79 billion. Cost of sales rose more than sales, up 17.0% to $975.9 million, as gross margin contracted to 45.9% from 46.3%. Inventories rose 10.1% to $1.68 billion, after rising 9.3% to $1.67 billion in the second quarter. The overall impact of increased pricing boosted sales by 5.50 to 5.80 percentage points. “We did not take any broad pricing actions in the third quarter of 2022, and price levels in the market remained stable,” the company said in a statement. The stock has lost 2.4% over the past three months through Wednesday, while the S&P 500 SPX, -0.33% has lost 5.9%.
