Fastenal Co. shares fell Tuesday after the company's second-quarter results missed investor expectations.
The Winona-based distributor of fasteners, construction and industrial equipment said its profit fell 6 percent to $131.5 million. That amounted to 46 cents a share, 2 cents below the consensus forecast of analysts.
The company's shares closed at $43.79, down 3.5 percent.
Fastenal missed analysts' expectations by 1 cent per share in each of the previous two quarters. The company is routinely the first publicly traded firm in Minnesota to report its results for a new quarter.
Sales for the April-to-June period were $1.01 billion, up 2 percent from last year. Analysts had forecast sales of $1.02 billion.
Sales of fasteners to Fastenal's construction and production customers — approximately 40 percent of its overall business — have slowed in 2016 and got worse in June, the company said.
Sales of its nonfastener products, done mainly through industrial vending machines, also softened in the last eight quarters.
Fastenal said its profit margin has been pressured as it does more business with large national businesses, firms that it says have been underrepresented in its customer base in the past. Large accounts yield profits that are below the company's average, Fastenal said in a statement. But those businesses yield "strong incremental operating income growth," the company said.
