Fastenal (FAST), a business that deals in industrial supplies, reported stats for the fourth quarter on Tuesday. According to TheFly, the management team did not impress Wall Street's analysts. They were looking for 45 cents per share. Alas, the company came in shy of that number by the proverbial penny. However, as Benzinga notes, the year-over-year growth in net income was well over 40%.

Plus, the price action in the stock was quite nice after the release. Shares closed higher by 1.8% to a quote of $60.95. The 52-week high for the shares is $61.53. Volume was strong.

Back in October of last year, I wasn't bullish on Fastenal (FAST). Today, though, things could be different after the company, which sells all kinds of industrial products (think tools, motors, chemicals, paints, etc.), reported its second-quarter numbers on Tuesday. The figures do tell a story of a nice rebound.

According to the corporate press release, the top line increased 20%, and the bottom line advanced 62% to 47 cents per share. The Fly says the latter went beyond expectations by three solid pennies. Shareholders have got to be happy with these stats.

Fastenal Company (NASDAQ: FAST), a company that sells supplies to the construction industry and whose colleagues include W.W. Grainger (NYSE: GWW) and MSC Industrial Direct Co. (NYSE: MSM), didn't do so well in its third quarter. According to Reuters, per-share profit missed expectations by a penny, coming in at 32 cents. Net sales, however, met expectations at $489 million.

A comparison of this year's data to last year's results also indicates a rather tepid performance. Fastenal earned 49 cents per share in the year-ago period according to the actual press release. In addition, the current quarter's top line saw a decline of well over 20%. The economy is limiting Fastenal's ability to grow, no question about that.