It was also good news for FAST stock by beating out Wall Street’s earnings per share estimate of 67 cents for the quarter. Fastenal also notes that its gross profit, as a percentage of revenue, in the first quarter of 2019 was down 100 basis points to 47.70%. The company attributes this to “impacts of customer and product mix and net inflation on product margins, higher freight costs, and lower net rebates reflecting our inventory control programs.” FAST stock was up 4% as of Thursday afternoon and is up 26% since the start of the year.