Fastenal Co., provider in the wholesale distribution of industrial and construction supplies and industrial vending services, improved both sales and earnings in Q4 2021 compared to the prior year's fourth quarter.

Sales increased 12.8% from $1.36 billion in Q4 2020 to $1.53 billion in the quarter ending Dec. 31, 2021.

Earnings rose from $196.1 million to $231.2 million in the comparative quarters.

Basic and diluted earnings per net share both rose from 34 cents to 40 cents.

On an annual basis, sales increased from $5.65 billion in 2020 to $6.01 billion in 2021.

Earnings increased from $859.1 million to $925 million year over year while basic earnings per share rose from $1.50 to $1.61 and diluted earnings per share increased from $1.49 to $1.60.

Similar to the third quarter of 2021, growth in the fourth quarter of 2021 was slightly limited by slower growth or contraction in sales of certain products to certain end markets related to the COVID-19 pandemic when compared to the fourth quarter of 2020.

For instance, daily sales to government and warehousing customers declined 35.7% and 3.5%, respectively, while daily sales of safety supplies returned to growth, rising 3.5%. This increase reflected growth in vended product to the traditional customer base, partly offset by lower sales for high volume, direct shipments of pandemic-related product that were prevalent in the year earlier period.

Shares traded at $57.47 Monday against a 52-week range of $43.37-$64.75.

The $1.53 billion in quarterly revenue beat analyst expectations by $30 million and the GAAP EPS of 40 cents beat expectations by three cents, according to Seeking Alpha.

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