Fastenal(US:FAST)2024-07-12 17:00Business Performance - 2Q24 net sales increased by 1.8%[86], but EPS decreased by 2.0% to $0.51[86] - National Accounts' daily sales increased by 5.8% in 2Q24[36], while non-National Account daily sales decreased by 4.3%[36] - eBusiness daily sales rose 25.5% in 2Q24[69], with eProcurement and eCommerce up 30.9% and 11.6%, respectively[69] Financial Metrics - 2Q24 operating margin was 20.2%, down from 21.0% in 2Q23[97] - Gross margin declined to 45.1% from 45.5% in 2Q23[97] - SG&A costs were 24.9% of sales, up from 24.6% in 2Q23[97] - 2Q24 operating cash flow was $258.0 million, representing 88.1% of net income[13] - Balance sheet debt was 6.3% of total capital in 2Q24, compared to 9.4% in 2Q23[14] Growth Drivers - The installed base of weighted FMI devices reached 119,306, an increase of 11.4% from 2Q23[8] - Activity through the FMI technology platform accounted for 41.8% of sales in 2Q24, compared to 39.8% and 35.6% in 2Q23 and 2Q22, respectively[8] - Sales through the Digital Footprint were 59.4% of total sales in 2Q24, versus 55.3% and 47.9% in 2Q23 and 2Q22, respectively[33] Market Conditions - The U S Manufacturing PMI has been below 50 for 19 of the last 20 months[3] - U S PMI averaged 48.8 in 2Q24[35]