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Fastenal Company Reports 2021 First Quarter Earnings -- WINONA , Minn . , April 13 , 2021 ( BUSINESS WIRE ) . Fastenal Company ( Nasdaq : FAST ) , a leader in the wholesale distribution of industrial and construction supplies , today announced its financial results for the quarter ended March 31 , 2021 . Except for share and per share information , or as otherwise noted below , dollar amounts are stated in millions . Throughout this document , percentage and dollar calculations , which are based on non - rounded dollar values , may not be able to be recalculated using the dollar values included in this document due to the rounding of those dollar values . PERFORMANCE SUMMARY Net sales Business days Daily sales Gross profit % of sales Operating income % of sales Earnings before income taxes % of sales Net earnings Diluted net earnings per share Three - month Period 2021 $ 1,417.0 2020 1,367.0 Change 3.7 % 63 64 22.5 21.4 5.3 % $ 643.4 636.8 1.0 % 45.4 % 46.6 % $ 280.3 271.3 3.3 % 19.8 % 19.9 % $ 277.9 269.2 3.2 % 19.6 % 19.7 % $ 210.6 202.6 3.9 % $ 0.37 0.35 3.7 % Quarterly Results of Operations Net sales increased $ 50.0 , or 3.7 % , in the first quarter of 2021 when compared to the first quarter of 2020. There was one fewer selling day in the current period relative to the year earlier period , and taking this into consideration our net daily sales growth increased 5.3 % in the first quarter of 2021 when compared to the first quarter of 2020. This growth was largely due to higher unit sales , most notably of fastener , safety , and janitorial products . Growth in fastener products reflected further improvement in demand among traditional industrial and construction customers and an easy comparison with respect to March 2021 , which came against a year earlier period that experienced the onset of pandemic - related weakness and a contraction in fastener product growth . Growth in safety products reflected continued improvement in demand among traditional industrial and construction customers as well as sales to new customers that had not purchased safety products from Fastenal prior to the pandemic . Growth in our other products lines primarily reflected good demand for janitorial products , driven by similar variables experienced for our safety products . These favorable factors were partly offset by severe weather in February 2021 , which we believe reduced net and daily sales growth by 50 to 100 basis points in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the first quarter of 2020 . The overall impact of product pricing on net sales in the first quarter of 2021 was 60 to 90 basis points . Pressures related to product cost inflation are rising , however , and we anticipate taking pricing actions in the second quarter of 2021 to mitigate these effects . Foreign exchange favorably impacted sales in the first quarter of 2021 by 60 basis points . Daily sales of fastener products grew 4.0 % over the first quarter of 2020 , and represented 32.5 % of our net sales in the first quarter of 2021 ; fasteners represented 32.9 % of net sales in the first quarter of 2020. Daily sales of our safety products grew 14.7 % over the first quarter of 2020 and represented 21.5 % of our net sales in the first quarter of 2021 ; safety products represented 19.8 % of net sales in the first quarter of 2020. Daily sales of our other products grew 2.5 % over the first quarter of 2020 and represented 46.0 % of our net sales in the first quarter of 2021 ; other products represented 47.3 % of net sales in the first quarter of 2020 . Daily sales to our national account customers ( defined as customer accounts with a multi - site contract ) grew 6.9 % in the first quarter of 2021 over the first quarter of 2020. Revenues attributable to national account customers represented 56.3 % of our total revenues in the period . Daily sales to our non - national account customers , which includes government customers , grew 3.1 % in the first quarter of 2021 over the first quarter of 2020. Revenues attributable to non - national account customers represented 43.7 % of our total revenues in the period . In March 2020 , and specifically the back half of that month , governments and businesses began to enact policies aimed at mitigating the effects of the COVID - 19 pandemic , which also weakened business activity and the performance of our more cyclical product lines , such as fasteners . At the same time , the building global pandemic began to elevate demand for personal 1