快扣 (FAST) 2025 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Greetings, and welcome to the Fastenal Fourth Quarter and Annual 2025 Earnings Results Conference Call and Webcast. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

各位好，歡迎參加 Fastenal 2025 年第四季及年度收益業績電話會議及網路直播。（操作說明）提醒各位，本次會議正在錄音。

It's now my pleasure to turn the call over to Dray Schreiber. Please go ahead.

現在我很高興將電話交給德雷·施賴伯。請繼續。

Welcome to the Fastenal Company 2025 Annual and Fourth Quarter Earnings Conference Call. This call will be hosted by Dan Florness, our Chief Executive Officer; Jeff Watts, our President and Chief Sales Officer; and Max Tunnicliff, our Chief Financial Officer.

歡迎參加 Fastenal 公司 2025 年年度及第四季財報電話會議。本次電話會議將由我們的執行長丹·弗洛內斯、總裁兼首席銷售官傑夫·沃茨和首席財務官馬克斯·圖尼克利夫主持。

This call will last for up to one hour, and we'll start with a general overview of our annual and quarterly results and operations with the remainder of the time being open for questions and answers. Today's conference call is a proprietary Fastenal presentation and is being recorded by Fastenal. No recording, reproduction, transmission, or distribution of today's call is permitted without Fastenal's consent. This call is being audio simulcast on the Internet via the Fastenal Investor Relations homepage, investor.fastenal.com. A replay of the webcast will be available on the website until March 1, 2026, at midnight Central Time.

本次電話會議時長最多為一小時，我們將首先概述年度和季度業績及營運情況，剩餘時間將用於問答環節。今天的電話會議是 Fastenal 的專有演示，並由 Fastenal 進行錄音。未經 Fastenal 同意，不得對今天的電話會議進行任何錄音、複製、傳輸或分發。本次電話會議將透過 Fastenal 投資者關係主頁 investor.fastenal.com 進行網路音訊同步直播。網路直播的回放將在網站上保留至美國中部時間 2026 年 3 月 1 日午夜。

As a reminder, today's conference call may include statements regarding the company's future plans and prospects. These statements are based on our current expectations, and we undertake no duty to update them. It is important to note that the company's actual results may differ materially from those anticipated. Factors that could cause actual results to differ from anticipated results are contained in the company's latest earnings release and periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and we encourage you to review those factors carefully.

提醒各位，今天的電話會議可能涉及公司未來的計劃和前景。這些聲明是基於我們目前的預期，我們不承擔更新這些聲明的義務。值得注意的是，公司的實際業績可能與預期業績有重大差異。可能導致實際結果與預期結果不同的因素已包含在公司最新的收益報告和定期向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中，我們建議您仔細閱讀這些因素。

I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Jeff Watts.

現在我將把電話交給傑夫‧沃茨先生。

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining Fastenal's Fourth Quarter 2025 Earnings Call. Now before we get started, I do want to take a moment to thank the Fastenal Blue Team and our employees across the world for their performance and dedication both this quarter and throughout the year. Your commitment and attention to customer needs have played a major role in making 2025 such an exceptionally successful year for Fastenal. So for that, thank you very much. Now let's jump into our results.

各位早安，感謝各位參加 Fastenal 2025 年第四季財報電話會議。在正式開始之前，我想藉此機會感謝 Fastenal Blue 團隊以及我們世界各地的員工，感謝他們在本季度和全年的出色表現和敬業精神。您對客戶需求的承諾和關注，在使 Fastenal 2025 年取得如此卓越的成功方面發揮了重要作用。為此，非常感謝。現在讓我們直接來看結果。

Now Fastenal delivered a strong fourth quarter, capping an impressive 2025 recovery. We achieved double-digit growth in Q4 with daily sales up just over 11%, and we continue to gain market share despite a sluggish industrial economy. This marks our second consecutive quarter of double-digit growth, but our success is not just about favorable comparisons. It's driven by continued progress on our strategic objectives and they start with increasing our sales effectiveness. And we're winning with key accounts and new contracts.

Fastenal 在第四季業績強勁，為 2025 年令人矚目的復甦畫上了圓滿的句號。第四季我們實現了兩位數的成長，每日銷售額成長超過 11%，儘管工業經濟低迷，我們仍然不斷擴大市場份額。這標誌著我們連續第二個季度實現了兩位數的成長，但我們的成功不僅僅是因為有利的基數比較。這得益於我們在策略目標上的持續進展，而這些目標首先是提高我們的銷售效率。我們在重要客戶和新合約方面都取得了成功。

Our focused sales strategy is yielding share gains, we're signing more national and global contracts and we're deepening relationships with existing large customers. In 2025, our total contract customer count grew by 241 or just over 7%, reflecting solid new customer signings and expansions. These partnerships with big customers are a core driver of our growth. When we think about enhancing our services, we've continued to expand our suite of value-added services, particularly our digital, on-site solutions. In 2025, we significantly grew our installed base of FMI devices and strengthened our digital footprint, which combines our e-commerce and industrial vending and bin programs.

我們採取的重點銷售策略正在帶來市場份額的成長，我們正在簽署更多國內和國際合同，並且我們正在加深與現有大客戶的關係。2025 年，我們的合約客戶總數增加了 241 人，增幅略高於 7%，這反映了新客戶的穩定簽約和業務擴張。與大客戶的這些合作關係是我們成長的核心驅動力。在考慮如何提升服務品質時，我們不斷擴展增值服務範圍，特別是數位化現場解決方案。2025 年，我們大幅增加了 FMI 設備的安裝量，並加強了我們的數位化佈局，將我們的電子商務和工業自動販賣機及垃圾箱計畫結合起來。

But by focusing and investing in these platforms, we're improving the customer experience and increasing retention. In fact, nearly half of our Q4 sales were transacted through FMI Technology or other digital channels, really underlying how crucial these services have become to our customers. And this is a key competitive advantage for Fastenal, and it makes us stickier with our customers and more operationally efficient. It also provides our customers with ongoing insight regarding product consumption, insight we're uniquely able to provide in a wide range of locations.

但透過專注於這些平台並加大投資，我們正在改善客戶體驗並提高客戶留存率。事實上，我們第四季近一半的銷售額都是透過 FMI Technology 或其他數位管道完成的，這充分說明了這些服務對我們的客戶來說有多重要。這是 Fastenal 的關鍵競爭優勢，它使我們與客戶的聯繫更加緊密，營運效率也更高。它還能為我們的客戶提供有關產品消費的持續洞察，而我們能夠在廣泛的地區提供這種洞察，這是我們獨有的優勢。

And then lastly, expanding our market reach. During Q4 and really, over the course of the year, we continue to win new sites and new markets, and we strengthened our presence in manufacturing, construction, government and in the transportation sectors. We've also continued to grow the range of services and products we delivered through our solutions suite. Thanks to these strategic efforts, Fastenal's Q4 financial performance, it was strong. We grew net sales to $2.03 billion in the quarter, like I said, an increase of 11% from Q4 of last year.

最後，擴大我們的市場覆蓋範圍。在第四季度以及全年，我們不斷贏得新的項目和新的市場，並加強了我們在製造業、建築業、政府和交通運輸業的地位。我們也不斷擴大透過我們的解決方案套件提供的服務和產品範圍。由於這些策略舉措，Fastenal 第四季的財務業績表現強勁。正如我所說，本季我們的淨銷售額成長至 20.3 億美元，比去年第四季成長了 11%。

The top line growth, combined with disciplined cost management led to strong bottom line results. And Q4 net income increased 12.2% year-over-year to $294.1 million, with earnings per share of $0.26. For the full year of 2025, we achieved record annual sales of $8.2 billion, up close to 9% versus '24. And net income of $1.26 billion, up 9.4%. We also generated robust cash flow and improved our operating margin slightly in 2025, even as we invested in growth and technology.

營收成長加上嚴格的成本控制，帶來了強勁的獲利績效。第四季淨利年增12.2%至2.941億美元，每股收益為0.26美元。 2025年全年，我們實現了創紀錄的82億美元年銷售額，比2024年成長近9%。淨利潤為 12.6 億美元，成長 9.4%。2025 年，我們雖然投資於成長和技術，但仍產生了強勁的現金流，並略微提高了營業利潤率。

Now even more important, we accomplished this while maintaining a balanced approach to pricing and cost. In Q4, we saw pricing contribute roughly 310 to 340 basis points of our sales growth and pricing actions that helped to offset inflationary pressures, but still kept us essentially neutral on price/cost for the year, but Max will be touching a little bit more on this later in the deck.

更重要的是，我們在保持價格和成本平衡的同時實現了這一目標。第四季度，價格因素對銷售成長貢獻了約 310 至 340 個基點，價格措施有助於抵消通膨壓力，但仍使我們全年的價格/成本基本保持中性，但 Max 將在稍後的簡報中對此進行更詳細的闡述。

We also leveraged our operating expenses and -- for example, SG&A as a percentage of sales declined to 25.4% in Q4 from 25.9% a year ago. Now this cost discipline, along with volume growth allowed us to improve our operating margin year-over-year despite a dip in gross margin due primarily to timing factors. The bottom line is that we're controlling what we can control, pricing, costs, capital allocation, to deliver more profitable growth.

我們也有效控制了營運費用，例如，銷售、一般及行政費用佔銷售額的百分比從去年同期的 25.9% 下降到第四季的 25.4%。如今，這種成本控制以及銷量成長使我們能夠逐年提高營業利潤率，儘管毛利率因時間因素而下降。歸根結底，我們正在控制我們能夠控制的因素，例如定價、成本和資本配置，以實現更盈利的成長。

Now turning to slide 4. Now this momentum with our customers is clearly reflected in our site growth metrics for Q4. The number of active $50,000-plus sites rose 14% year-over-year, and those ultra-high spend sites now account for just over half of our revenues. And we also saw solid growth in the $10,000-plus customer category, which was up roughly 8% to just over 11,700 sites in the quarter. Now these figures demonstrate that we're growing with our largest and most strategic customers, exactly what we're focusing our efforts on.

現在請看第4張投影片。現在，這種與客戶建立良好關係的勢頭已經明顯體現在我們第四季的網站成長指標中。活躍的年消費額超過 5 萬美元的網站數量年增 14%，這些超高消費網站目前占我們收入的一半以上。我們還看到，消費額超過 10,000 美元的客戶類別也實現了穩健增長，該季度網站數量增長了約 8%，達到 11,700 多個。這些數據表明，我們正在與最大、最具戰略意義的客戶共同成長，這正是我們努力的方向。

At the same time, though, we did see a decline in the count of the smaller customer sites, the under $5,000, which was not unexpected. But I do think it's important to point out that we did see growth in our $2,000 to $5,000 customer sites, but 94% of the under-$5,000 decline was in the under $500 per month customer sites and almost 55% came from the under-$100 customer sites for the year. And our strategy deliberately emphasizes key account growth and driving deeper engagement at large accounts with significant spend potential rather than chasing low-volume transactional business. And this strategy is paying off in higher growth, more resilient performance against a weak backdrop and really more efficient focus on our sales talent. In manufacturing end markets, for instance, our heavy and other manufacturing customers, they grew at double-digit rates in Q4, far outpacing general industrial production.

但同時，我們也看到規模較小的客戶網站（低於 5,000 美元）的數量有所下降，這並不出乎意料。但我認為有必要指出，我們確實看到月收入在 2000 美元到 5000 美元之間的客戶網站實現了增長，但月收入低於 5000 美元的客戶網站中，94% 的下降來自月收入低於 500 美元的客戶網站，而年收入低於 100 美元的客戶網站中，近 55% 的收入下降來自 100 美元的客戶網站中，近 55% 的收入來自 100 美元的客戶網站近 55%。我們的策略特意強調重點客戶成長，並致力於與具有巨大消費潛力的大客戶建立更深入的聯繫，而不是追求小額交易業務。這項策略正在取得成效，實現了更高的成長，在疲軟的市場環境下表現出更強的韌性，並真正有效地專注於我們的銷售人才。例如，在製造業終端市場，我們的重型和其他製造業客戶在第四季度實現了兩位數的成長，遠遠超過了一般工業生產的成長速度。

We're winning with big manufacturers because of our service model, including the FMI Technology and on-site service and our extensive product range that really creates value for them. Likewise in construction and other segments, our focused approach, it's led to share gains where competitors are just more constrained. And we're going to continue to develop these customer partnerships and expand the Fastenal footprint of customer sites as it's a proven formula for sustainable growth.

我們憑藉服務模式（包括 FMI 技術和現場服務）以及廣泛的產品系列，贏得了大型製造商的青睞，這些都真正為他們創造了價值。同樣，在建築和其他領域，我們採取的專注策略，使我們在競爭對手受到更多限制的情況下，獲得了市場份額。我們將繼續發展這些客戶合作夥伴關係，並擴大 Fastenal 在客戶現場的覆蓋範圍，因為這是實現永續成長的行之有效的方法。

Now on to slide 5. So this slide highlights how our investments in technology are contributing to our performance. Fastenal's long been the leader in industrial vending. We continue to expand those capabilities while also showing great progress on our new business, further strengthening our bonds with customers and also enhancing our efficiency. In Q4, we installed thousands more in FMI Technology devices at customer locations. We signed over 5,900 weighted FMI devices in the quarter and that signing pace was slightly below the exceptionally strong Q4 of last year, but it was still roughly 14% above our five-year average signing rate. And for the full year of '25, we signed approximately 25,900 devices and as a result, our installed base of active FMI devices grew 7.6% year-over-year to about 136,600 units.

現在來看第5張投影片。這張投影片重點介紹了我們對科技的投資如何提升了我們的績效。Fastenal長期以來一直是工業自動販賣機領域的領導者。我們不斷拓展這些能力，同時在新業務方面也取得了巨大進展，進一步加強了與客戶的聯繫，並提高了我們的效率。第四季度，我們在客戶現場安裝了數千台 FMI Technology 設備。本季我們簽署了超過 5900 台加權 FMI 設備，雖然簽約速度略低於去年第四季異常強勁的水平，但仍比我們五年平均簽約率高出約 14%。2025 年全年，我們簽約了約 25,900 台設備，因此，我們活躍的 FMI 設備安裝基數年增 7.6%，達到約 136,600 台。

We have a great team leading this initiative and our capabilities keep getting stronger. The impact on our sales is significant, though. In Q4, 46.1% of our sales were dispensed or managed through FMI Technology, and that's up from 43.9% in Q4 of last year. So nearly half of our Q4 revenue flowed through Fastenal vending or bin device at a customer site. This is a powerful indicator really how deeply embedded Fastenal has become our customers' daily operations. And it creates a sticky relationship, and this is a key part of our long-term growth model. The more we integrate with customers through on-site and digital solutions, the more indispensable we become.

我們擁有一支優秀的團隊來領導這項計劃，而且我們的能力也不斷增強。但這對我們的銷售額產生了重大影響。第四季度，我們 46.1% 的銷售額是透過 FMI Technology 進行分發或管理的，比去年第四季的 43.9% 有所成長。因此，我們第四季近一半的營收來自 Fastenal 在客戶現場提供的自動販賣機或垃圾箱設備。這有力地表明了 Fastenal 已經多麼深入地融入我們客戶的日常運作中。它能建立牢固的關係，而這正是我們長期成長模式的關鍵部分。我們透過現場和數位化解決方案與客戶融合得越多，我們就越不可或缺。

Our digital footprint, it extends beyond physical devices as well. We offer a robust suite of e-business solutions from EDI integrations with large enterprise customers to our e-commerce web platform. In Q4, our e-business sales, it grew 6.4% year-over-year. E-business now accounts for about 30% of our sales, 29.6% actually in Q4 to be exact. But when you combine the e-business and FMI, which together for what we call our digital footprint, these digitally-enabled channels represent 62.1% of total Q4 sales. Over the past decade, we've steadily grown this number, now roughly 2/3 of our business comes through this high-tech efficient channel. And the remaining 1/3 is really through traditional branches and direct sales, which is still very important, but the trend is clearly toward a more digital and connected service model.

我們的數位足跡，也延伸到了實體設備之外。我們提供一套強大的電子商務解決方案，從與大型企業客戶的 EDI 整合到我們的電子商務網路平台。第四季度，我們的電子商務銷售額年增 6.4%。電子商務目前約占我們銷售額的 30%，確切地說，第四季佔 29.6%。但是，如果將電子商務和 FMI 結合起來（我們稱之為我們的數位足跡），這些數位化管道佔第四季度總銷售額的 62.1%。過去十年，我們穩步成長了這個數字，現在我們大約 2/3 的業務都是透過這個高科技高效管道實現的。剩下的 1/3 仍然是透過傳統分支機構和直銷實現的，這仍然非常重要，但趨勢顯然是朝著更數位化和互聯的服務模式發展。

And overall, for the year, Fastenal gained market share. We grew much faster than the industrial sector, and we strengthened our foundation for years ahead. And we closed out the year aligned as an organization with strong momentum, thanks to our focus on customers and the hard work of our people. And I'm really incredibly proud of our team's dedication and the trust we built with our customers.

總體而言，Fastenal 在這一年中獲得了市場份額成長。我們的發展速度遠超過工業部門，並為未來幾年奠定了堅實的基礎。在這一年結束時，我們作為一個組織保持著強勁的發展勢頭，這得益於我們對客戶的關注和員工的辛勤工作。我為我們團隊的奉獻精神以及我們與客戶建立的信任感到無比自豪。

Now with all that said, I'm pleased to introduce our new Chief Financial Officer, Max Tunnicliff. As many of you know, Max joined Fastenal in November, and this is his first earnings call as a CFO. Max, he brings a tremendous amount of experience and fresh perspective to our finance and leadership team.

說了這麼多，我很高興地向大家介紹我們的新任財務官，馬克斯·圖尼克利夫。正如你們許多人所知，Max 於 11 月加入 Fastenal，這是他作為財務長的第一次財報電話會議。Max 為我們的財務和領導團隊帶來了豐富的經驗和全新的視角。

And with that said, Max, welcome aboard and the floor is yours.

那麼，Max，歡迎加入，現在輪到你發言了。

Thank you very much, Jeff, and I'm excited and thankful to be part of this team. Good morning, everyone. Today, I'll cover our business and market trends, our fourth quarter results as well as a few points about where we're thinking on 2026.

非常感謝你，傑夫，我很高興也很榮幸能成為這個團隊的一員。各位早安。今天，我將介紹我們的業務和市場趨勢、第四季度業績，以及我們對 2026 年的一些想法。

Let's start with the business trends and market drivers slide. Looking at the broader operating environment in the fourth quarter, the US economy continued to send mixed signals, especially in the industrial sector. While some areas showed resilience, others faced continued headwinds that impacted demand and supply chains. US PMI and industrial production remained mixed in Q4 with heavier manufacturing segment showing relative weakness. PMI average was in the low 48s for the quarter while industrial production was close to flat compared to last year, although with some improvement late in the quarter.

讓我們先來看看商業趨勢和市場驅動因素幻燈片。從第四季的整體經營環境來看，美國經濟持續發出喜憂參半的訊號，尤其是在工業領域。雖然有些地區展現了韌性，但其他地區則面臨持續的逆風，影響了需求和供應鏈。美國第四季採購經理人指數和工業生產數據喜憂參半，其中重工業部門表現相對疲軟。本季採購經理人指數 (PMI) 平均值在 48 左右，而工業生產與去年同期相比基本持平，儘管本季末有所改善。

Despite this softness, as Jeff mentioned, our daily sales rate remained strong in Q4, up slightly over 11%. This growth was driven by several factors: new customer wins, increased share of wallet with existing customers and our continued focus on operating more effectively overall. Importantly, customer sentiment remained favorable, even against the backdrop of trade and tariff uncertainty that has characterized much of 2025. As in prior years, the timing of the December holidays had a meaningful impact on our Q4 results. Just like last year, Christmas and New Year's fell midweek, resulting in a similar pattern of extended customer shutdowns and compressed shipping windows.

儘管市場疲軟，但正如傑夫所提到的，我們的第四季日銷售額依然強勁，成長略超過 11%。這一成長是由以下幾個因素推動的：贏得新客戶、提高現有客戶的錢包份額以及我們持續專注於提高整體營運效率。重要的是，即使在 2025 年大部分時間貿易和關稅不確定性的背景下，客戶情緒仍然保持樂觀。與往年一樣，12 月假期的時間安排對我們第四季度的業績產生了重大影響。和去年一樣，聖誕節和新年都落在周中，導致客戶停工時間延長，出貨窗口壓縮。

This led to, for a second year in a row, below normal sequential growth in December as many industrial customers paused operations for longer stretches around the holidays. Sales to our manufacturing end markets outperformed other markets on a relative basis, led by growth in key accounts. Other segments such as construction, education, health care, transportation and data centers also saw positive momentum. Our fastener product line growth outpaced non-fastener categories again this quarter. This was driven by several factors: successful signings of large customers, improved product availability due to strategic and thoughtful inventory investments and targeted pricing actions that balance competitiveness with profitability.

由於許多工業客戶在假期期間暫停營運的時間更長，導致 12 月的環比增長連續第二年低於正常水平。在重點客戶成長的帶動下，我們面向製造業終端市場的銷售額相對優於其他市場。建築、教育、醫療保健、交通運輸和資料中心等其他領域也呈現積極發展動能。本季度，我們的緊固件產品線成長再次超過了非緊固件類別。這主要受以下幾個因素驅動：成功簽約大客戶、透過策略性和周全的庫存投資提高產品供應量，以及採取有針對性的定價措施，在競爭力和盈利能力之間取得平衡。

Turning now to pricing. Our approach during the fourth quarter remained disciplined and responsive to the market. We implemented targeted price adjustments across select product categories, bringing our year-over-year price increase impact to approximately 3% for the quarter on matched product. These actions were designed to offset higher input costs, which they did, while remaining competitive in a challenging environment. We also continue to use data-driven pricing tools to identify opportunities for tailored increases, ensuring we maintained customer loyalty and minimized volume attrition.

接下來我們來談談定價。第四季度，我們依然保持了嚴謹的作風，並對市場變化做出快速反應。我們對部分產品類別實施了有針對性的價格調整，使本季同類產品的年比價格上漲幅度約為 3%。這些措施旨在抵消更高的投入成本，並且確實做到了這一點，同時在充滿挑戰的環境中保持了競爭力。我們也繼續使用數據驅動的定價工具來尋找有針對性的漲價機會，以確保我們保持客戶忠誠度並最大限度地減少銷售流失。

To summarize this slide, while the macro environment remains unpredictable, our diverse customer base, our focus on key accounts and specific strategic initiatives allowed us to capture growth opportunities and strengthen our market position. Now I'll move to our margin performance and driver slide to talk about profitability. Gross margin decreased 50 basis points in the fourth quarter of 2025 compared to last year, driven by timing elements within our cost of goods sold. These timing factors included the relief of certain inventory-related working capital, which caused related cost to move through the P&L more heavily in the fourth quarter. Additionally, the timing of supplier rebates negatively impacted gross margins.

綜上所述，儘管宏觀環境仍然難以預測，但我們多元化的客戶群、對重點客戶的關注以及具體的策略舉措使我們能夠抓住成長機會並鞏固市場地位。現在我將轉到我們的利潤率表現和驅動因素幻燈片，談談獲利能力。2025 年第四季毛利率較上年同期下降 50 個基點，主要原因是銷售成本中的時間因素。這些時間因素包括某些與庫存相關的營運資金的釋放，這導致相關成本在第四季度更嚴重地計入損益表。此外，供應商回饋的時機也對毛利率產生了負面影響。

It's important to note that these effects do not indicate a change in our underlying cost structure. Related to tariffs and pricing, our net price/cost impact was nearly neutral for the quarter, coming in at 10 basis points negative. Our teams actively manage tariffs and input cost to defend the profitability using a combination of data analytics and sourcing strategies.

值得注意的是，這些影響並不代表我們根本成本結構已經改變了。就關稅和定價而言，本季我們的淨價格/成本影響幾乎為中性，為負 10 個基點。我們的團隊積極管理關稅和投入成本，透過數據分析和採購策略結合的方式來保障獲利能力。

Throughout the year, our fastener expansion project was our largest positive contributor to gross margin, allowing us to maintain flat gross margin levels year-over-year on a full year basis. This project will anniversary in the second quarter of 2026. As a reminder, this project did a number of things. It helped us capture higher-margin business, and it drove cost savings initiatives such as price negotiations, consolidating purchases with preferred partners and optimizing sourcing. These actions directly reduced costs and increased efficiency.

全年來看，我們的緊固件擴張項目是毛利率的最大積極貢獻者，使我們能夠全年保持毛利率與去年持平。該項目將於2026年第二季迎來週年紀念。提醒一下，這個專案做了很多事。它幫助我們獲得了利潤更高的業務，並推動了成本節約舉措，例如價格談判、與優選合作夥伴合併採購以及優化採購。這些措施直接降低了成本，並提高了效率。

The benefits from the fastener expansion project mitigated the dilutive effect on gross margin of the ongoing shift toward larger customers. As discussed in the past, these accounts tend to generate higher volumes but at lower gross margin rates. We're comfortable with this trade-off as these relationships provide long-term stability and open doors for cross-selling and deeper integration. And the negative impact at the gross margin level is offset at the operating margin level through efficiency gains and cost leverage. Regarding 2026 gross margin.

緊固件擴張項目帶來的收益緩解了向大客戶轉移對毛利率的稀釋影響。正如之前討論過的，這些帳戶往往會產生更高的銷量，但毛利率較低。我們樂於接受這種權衡，因為這些關係能夠提供長期穩定性，並為交叉銷售和更深入的整合打開大門。毛利率的負面影響可以透過提高效率和成本槓桿作用在營業利率上來抵銷。關於 2026 年毛利率。

Please remember that our fastener expansion project will anniversary after Q1. And so the modest annual gross margin contraction that we've seen historically should be considered in thinking about our 2026 performance. However, we believe this modest contraction will be offset within SG&A as we find efficiencies and further leverage our fixed costs.

請注意，我們的緊固件擴建項目將在第一季後迎來週年紀念。因此，在考慮我們 2026 年的表現時，應該考慮到我們歷史上看到的適度年度毛利率收縮。然而，我們相信，隨著我們提高效率並進一步利用固定成本，這種小幅收縮將在銷售、一般及行政費用中得到抵銷。

Now back to 2025. SG&A was 25.4% of net sales in Q4 of '25 compared to 25.9% in the previous period. This demonstrates strong ongoing cost discipline as we more than offset the reload of incentive compensation and our ongoing investments in technology, analytics and sales support. In addition to our strong sales growth and disciplined expense management, we increased our return on invested capital by 90 basis points on a trailing 12-month basis, reflecting our approach to capital allocation and our commitment to maximizing asset productivity. In total, our performance demonstrates that we can invest for growth while maintaining a sharp focus on profitability, even as our mix evolves and we pursue larger, more complex accounts.

現在回到2025年。2025 年第四季銷售、一般及行政費用佔淨銷售額的 25.4%，而上一季為 25.9%。這充分體現了我們持續嚴格的成本控制，因為我們不僅抵消了激勵性薪酬的重新調整，還抵消了我們在技術、分析和銷售支援方面的持續投資。除了強勁的銷售成長和嚴格的費用管理外，我們在過去 12 個月的投資資本回報率提高了 90 個基點，這反映了我們對資本配置的方法以及我們致力於最大限度地提高資產生產力的承諾。總的來說，我們的業績表明，即使我們的業務組合不斷變化，並且我們追求更大、更複雜的客戶，我們也能夠在保持高度盈利能力的同時，投資於成長。

Turning to the cash flow and capital allocation slide. Operating cash flow was approximately $370 million, representing 125% of net income. Cash generation remains strong even as we added working capital to support growth, but on a more efficient basis year-over-year. Accounts receivable and inventory rose 8.7% from last year, reflecting our expanding customer base, growth with existing customers and our fastener expansion project. Accounts payable increased primarily due to inventory growth.

接下來來看現金流和資本配置投影片。經營現金流約 3.7 億美元，佔淨收入的 125%。即使我們增加了營運資金以支持成長，現金流依然強勁，而且與去年相比效率更高。應收帳款和庫存較去年增長 8.7%，反映出我們不斷擴大的客戶群、現有客戶的成長以及我們的緊固件擴張項目。應付帳款增加主要是由於庫存成長所致。

Net capital spending for 2025 was $230 million, which was 2.8% of sales with investments focused on strengthening our Fastenal managed inventory or FMI, hardware capabilities, upgrading facilities, advancing IT infrastructure and expanding our vehicle fleet to support field operations and deliver efficiency. Regarding CapEx for 2026, we will increase our investments to support our growth expectations. We plan to invest in hub capacity, additional FMI device purchases and IT enhancements, with CapEx expected to be approximately 3.5% of net sales. These investments are designed to drive efficiency, scalability and customer value. During 2025, we returned just over $1 billion in dividends for the full year, accounting for approximately 80% of net income, reflecting our confidence in cash generation and our commitment to returning value to shareholders.

2025 年淨資本支出為 2.3 億美元，佔銷售額的 2.8%，投資重點在於加強 Fastenal 管理的庫存 (FMI)、硬體能力、升級設施、推進 IT 基礎設施以及擴大車隊，以支援現場營運並提高效率。關於 2026 年的資本支出，我們將增加投資以支持我們的成長預期。我們計劃投資於樞紐容量、額外的 FMI 設備採購和 IT 改進，預計資本支出將佔淨銷售額的 3.5% 左右。這些投資旨在提高效率、擴大規模並提升客戶價值。2025 年，我們全年派發了略高於 10 億美元的股息，約佔淨收入的 80%，這反映了我們對現金流的信心以及我們對為股東創造價值的承諾。

Overall, our capital allocation follows the same framework you've seen from us. We invest in FMI hardware and hub automation to drive throughput and accuracy. We invest in IT and digital capabilities to improve customer experience and sales productivity, and we invest in fleet and facilities to sustain service levels. We return cash through a consistent dividend, and we remain opportunistic on buybacks. Our balance sheet remains conservatively capitalized, preserving flexibility to continue investing in growth.

總體而言，我們的資本配置遵循與您之前看到的相同的框架。我們投資FMI硬體和中心自動化，以提高吞吐量和準確性。我們投資於資訊科技和數位化能力，以改善客戶體驗和銷售效率；我們投資於車隊和設施，以維持服務水準。我們透過持續派發股利來返還現金，並且我們始終伺機進行股票回購。我們的資產負債表保持穩健的資本配置，從而保留了繼續投資成長的靈活性。

So in closing, I'll just summarize my portion before turning it over to Dan. In 2025, we delivered continued share gains through our key account strategy and new contracts, expanded our FMI Technology and digital footprint and deepened our business in manufacturing and nonmanufacturing segments. Gross margin was protected mainly due to our fastener expansion and supplier initiatives, while operating margin benefited from disciplined SG&A management. We generated strong cash flow with capital allocation focused on growth, technology and shareholder returns. These accomplishments put us in a good position for continued success in 2026.

最後，我將總結我的部分，然後交給丹。2025年，我們透過重點客戶策略和新合約實現了持續的市場份額成長，擴大了FMI技術和數位佈局，並深化了我們在製造業和非製造業領域的業務。毛利率主要得益於緊固件業務的擴張和供應商的積極舉措，而營業利潤率則受益於嚴格的銷售、一般及行政管理。我們透過專注於成長、技術和股東回報的資本配置，創造了強勁的現金流。這些成就使我們為2026年的持續成功奠定了良好的基礎。

Thank you. And with that, I'll turn it to Dan.

謝謝。接下來，我將把麥克風交給丹。

Thanks, Max, and good morning, everybody, and thanks for joining our call.

謝謝Max，大家早安，謝謝各位參加我們的電話會議。

Before I run through the CEO summary and recap on page 9, I just wanted to share a couple of thoughts. First off, for Jeff Watts. I suspect all of you saw the announcement we made in late December. I want to say congratulations to Jeff on being named our next CEO, taking effect in July.

在我瀏覽第 9 頁的 CEO 總結和回顧之前，我想先分享幾點想法。首先，獻給傑夫‧沃茨。我想你們都看到了我們在十二月下旬發布的公告。我要祝賀傑夫被任命為我們的下一任首席執行官，他將於7月生效。

Max, who you just heard from, congrats on being named Fastenal's CFO and welcome to the Blue Team. Just to let Max get off to a calm start on his first earnings call and for Jeff to be CEO-elect. We decided to do a different type of call. Some of you may have noticed that our scheduled earnings early date was yesterday, Monday, about 10 days ago, using that keen tool called a calendar, we realized we were releasing earnings that we had set up 1.5 years ago. We realized we had selected Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and the market would not be open. So we delayed it a day. The problem is that means Jeff is on his way to Europe. So he's sitting in Kitchener, Ontario. Dan had a commitment, and he's sitting down in Southeastern United States and Max is by himself in Winona. So we hope the Q&A is not too jagged because we're not sitting in a room together.

剛才你聽到的Max的祝賀，恭喜你被任命為Fastenal的首席財務官，歡迎加入藍​​隊。只是為了讓 Max 在他的第一次財報電話會議上平靜地開始，也為了讓 Jeff 當選 CEO。我們決定採用另一種通話方式。你們中的一些人可能已經注意到，我們原定的提前發布收益的日期是昨天，星期一，大約 10 天前，透過日曆這個巧妙的工具，我們意識到我們發布的收益是我們 1.5 年前設定的。我們意識到我們選錯了日子，選在了馬丁路德金紀念日，那天市場不會開放。所以我們推遲了一天。問題是，這意味著傑夫正在前往歐洲的路上。所以他現在身處安大略省基奇納市。丹有事要辦，他現在坐在美國東南部，而馬克斯獨自一人在威諾納。所以我們希望問答環節不會太混亂，因為我們不是坐在同一個房間裡。

With that said, from a market outlook standpoint, as Max touched on and Jeff touched on, the broader market conditions remain mixed. We see ongoing challenges in industrial production. Max did note a possible uptick in industrial production during the quarter. In all candor, we haven't seen it in our numbers.

綜上所述，從市場前景的角度來看，正如 Max 和 Jeff 所提到的，整體市場狀況依然喜憂參半。我們看到工業生產面臨持續不斷的挑戰。馬克斯確實注意到本季工業生產可能出現成長。坦白說，我們的數據中還沒有看到這種情況。

However, we did see some signs of positive just from -- disciplined by some of our suppliers. I'll touch on that in a few minutes. But if there's a green shoot or two that's popping up, we welcome it. It'd be nice to have the market give us a little lift as opposed to the Fastenal organization doing it solo.

然而，我們確實從一些供應商的自律中看到了一些積極的跡象。我稍後會談到這一點。但如果出現一兩處好的跡象，我們表示歡迎。如果市場能給我們一些提振，而不是Fastenal公司單打獨鬥，那就太好了。

If I look at pricing, neutrality and managing tariff impacts, we've continued to defend profitability through the year. Struggled a little bit with that in the fourth quarter, and you see that in our numbers, it's really in the non-fasteners part of our business. Yes. As we talked earlier in the year, and we were talking about how we're managing through the tariffs and the price/cost perspective, our covenant with our customer is we provide them a great resilient supply chain, great products, the visibility to price, the cost in that supply chain. When there are things that drive costs up, our obligation to our customer is to let them know what we're seeing in their pipeline to help them plan for the future.

如果從定價、中立性和應對關稅影響等方面來看，我們全年都在持續捍衛獲利能力。第四季我們在這方面遇到了一些困難，從我們的數據中可以看出，這主要體現在我們非緊固件業務部分。是的。正如我們今年稍早所討論的，我們當時正在討論如何應對關稅和價格/成本問題，我們與客戶的約定是，我們為他們提供強大的、有彈性的供應鏈、優質的產品、價格的透明度以及供應鏈中的成本。當出現推高成本的情況時，我們有義務讓客戶了解我們在其業務流程中看到的情況，以幫助他們規劃未來。

With fasteners, we are sourcing from the ultimate manufacturers, and it gives us a tremendous amount of visibility to manage that with our customer. As we touched on in our October earnings call, with the non-fasteners, there's a piece where we have that same kind of visibility. However, there's a big piece where we don't. And that's where branded suppliers come into play, particularly in the fastener and cutting tool arena where there's a much different dynamic in the marketplace.

對於緊固件，我們直接從最終製造商採購，這讓我們能夠非常清楚地了解情況，以便更好地與客戶進行溝通。正如我們在 10 月的財報電話會議上提到的那樣，對於非緊固件業務，我們也同樣能夠看到這種前景。然而，還有很大一部分我們並不了解。而這正是品牌供應商發揮作用的地方，尤其是在緊固件和切削工具領域，那裡的市場動態截然不同。

And there was a question asked on the call last quarter about how we react to that and how we see that, where suppliers really focus on SKU by SKU, what they're seeing based on the source supply of that part, the relationship works really well. Where customers -- where suppliers try to smooth that across their landscape of products, that's where it becomes more problematic, and our lead time is different. So in the fourth quarter, we did feel a bit of a squeeze on that. And what I can tell you as we exit the quarter and move into the new quarter, a lot of things have been in motion in the latter half of the quarter.

上個季度電話會議上有人問到我們如何應對這種情況，以及我們如何看待這種情況，供應商真正關注的是 SKU 逐個 SKU，他們根據該零件的來源供應情況來判斷，這種關係運作得非常好。當客戶——或供應商——試圖在他們的產品系列中消除這種差異時，問題就變得更加嚴重，我們的交貨時間也變得不同了。所以在第四季度，我們確實感覺到這方面有些壓力。我可以告訴大家的是，隨著本季結束，新季度即將開始，本季後半段有很多事情都在進行中。

Things are in motion currently. And they really center on a few things. One, from our supplier perspective, pushback like crazy, especially when the increase in cost we're seeing isn't intuitive to the known source of supply by geography. In other words, don't blend it across everything when you have products that aren't as tariff impacted as others. That's one. So pushback on the supplier base really hard. Second is have frank conversations with our customers. And in that, we talk about this brand just raised their price x and having that frank conversation. And the third component is a really firm push towards product substitution where there's not willingness to move on price and the supplier is not willing to move on cost. So it's really balancing that.

目前事情正在發展中。它們主要圍繞著幾個方面。第一，從供應商的角度來看，我們遭到了強烈的抵制，尤其是當我們看到的成本增加與已知的地理位置供應來源不符時。換句話說，對於一些受關稅影響較小的產品，不要將所有產品混入關稅中。這是其中之一。所以要對供應商進行強而有力的抵制。第二點是與客戶進行坦誠的對話。在討論中，我們談到了這個品牌剛剛提價 x，並進行了坦誠的對話。第三個組成部分是堅定地推動產品替代，因為雙方都不願意在價格上讓步，供應商也不願意在成本上讓步。所以關鍵在於平衡這兩方面。

We have our work cut out for us. What I found in my 30-year career with Fastenal is I always bet on the Blue Team to perform in circumstances like this. As Max and Jeff also touched on, we have great momentum as we exit 2025, and we anticipate double-digit net sales growth in 2026, supported by FMI Technology and digital solutions and feel really good about the momentum.

我們還有很多工作要做。我在 Fastenal 工作了 30 年，我發現，在這種情況下，我總是相信藍隊能夠取得好成績。正如 Max 和 Jeff 也提到的那樣，我們在 2025 年末取得了巨大的發展勢頭，我們預計 2026 年淨銷售額將實現兩位數增長，這得益於 FMI 技術和數位解決方案的支持，我們對目前的增長勢頭感到非常樂觀。

And I know there's some probably some consternation about some of the sequential patterns in November and December. What I would tell you, regardless of the November and December sequentials being strong or weak, 30 years of experience in Fastenal has told me, November and December don't matter. It's all about where we'll be in January, what did we grow to in the September, October time frame because that really tells me where we're going to start off the new year in January. And in that regard, we had incredibly strong progress throughout the year. October -- September, October was up double digit from where we were in January. Frankly, they were in the low teens from where we were in January, but January was a softer number. And feel really good about momentum coming into the new year.

我知道，11月和12月的一些連續模式可能會引起一些人的擔憂。我想告訴你的是，無論 11 月和 12 月的序列資料是強是弱，我在 Fastenal 30 年的經驗告訴我，11 月和 12 月並不重要。一切都取決於我們一月份的狀況，取決於我們在九月、十月期間的發展情況，因為這真的能告訴我我們在一月份新年伊始會處於什麼位置。在這方面，我們全年都取得了非常強勁的進步。10 月 - 9 月，10 月比 1 月增長了兩位數。坦白說，他們比一月份的水平低了十幾個百分點，但一月份的數字比較溫和。我對進入新的一年充滿信心，感覺勢頭良好。

From a financial discipline standpoint, really pleased with the way the organization managed our SG&A and I'll say it this way, and this is how I shared it with the Board. A few of the analysts have talked about our shock absorbers in our SG&A, the incentive comp and how we reward for earnings growth. And if you read through our proxy, you could really see how that story works. And that thought process works throughout the organization.

從財務紀律的角度來看，我對公司管理銷售、一般及行政費用的方式非常滿意，我會這樣說，這也是我向董事會報告的方式。一些分析師談到了我們在銷售、一般及行政費用中的減震措施、激勵性薪酬以及我們如何獎勵盈利增長。如果你仔細閱讀我們的代理文章，你就能真正了解這個故事是如何運作的。這種思維方式適用於整個組織。

And so when I look at a year like 2024, our financial statements say our earnings were down $18 million. That's really not the case. We delevered in 2024, and our earnings were down about $40 million, but our incentive comp compressed, and we funded 55% of that and only reported $18 million down.

因此，當我展望 2024 年這樣的年份時，我們的財務報表顯示，我們的收益下降了 1800 萬美元。事實並非如此。我們在 2024 年降低了槓桿率，收益下降了約 4000 萬美元，但我們的激勵薪酬縮水了，我們支付了其中 55% 的資金，最終只報告了 1800 萬美元的虧損。

This year, if you look at the leverage in our business, our earnings on the financial statements say we grew about $145 million. That's actually not true. Our earnings grew just over $200 million, and we shared about 29% of that as our incentive comp expanded. So it really ate into our ability to get incremental margin in '25, we only have one quarter of that as we move into '26. So I feel really good about our ability, but my compliments to the Blue team on managing SG&A despite the fact we had a reload of incentive comp.

今年，如果你看一下我們業務的槓桿率，財務報表上的收益顯示我們成長了約 1.45 億美元。其實並非如此。我們的收益成長了略高於 2 億美元，其中約 29% 由員工分享，因為我們的激勵性薪酬方案擴大了。因此，這嚴重削弱了我們在 2025 年獲得增量利潤的能力，進入 2026 年，我們只剩下四分之一的利潤了。所以我對我們的能力感到非常滿意，但我還是要讚揚藍隊在銷售、一般及行政費用管理方面做得非常出色，儘管我們重新發放了激勵獎金。

As Max pointed out, strong cash generation and our capital allocation is focused on growth, technology and returning to shareholders cash that we don't need today in the business because our cash generation capability is so strong. And I'm pleased to say our return on invested capital increased year-over-year by 90 basis points, coming in at around 31%.

正如 Max 指出的那樣，我們擁有強大的現金流，並且我們的資本配置專注於成長、技術以及將我們目前業務中不需要的現金返還給股東，因為我們的現金產生能力非常強。我很高興地告訴大家，我們的投資資本報酬率年增了 90 個基點，達到約 31%。

From a priority standpoint, continued investment in tools, technology and analytics, focusing on operational excellence, our customers' experience and the innovation and employee engagement we can bring to the marketplace. And finally, from a strategic progress standpoint, I think what one thing Fastenal does really well, and Jeff does particularly well to our internal teams, we point out the possible.

從優先事項的角度來看，我們將繼續投資於工具、技術和分析，重點關注卓越營運、客戶體驗以及我們能夠為市場帶來的創新和員工敬業度。最後，從策略發展的角度來看，我認為 Fastenal 做得非常好的一件事，也是 Jeff 為我們的內部團隊做得特別好的一件事，就是指出各種可能性。

If you think about Fastenal, we're really not an $8.2 billion organization. There's 240 districts within Fastenal that average around $34 million a year. We look at the business from the standpoint of those 240 business units and we see excellence and strength in that group, and we share the story with all that we see. And what always is the growth differentiator from district to district is who has the best key account strategy. And we impress upon everybody -- that's why our bucket reporting is so key, we impress upon everybody the importance of that. The -- and I'm really excited about the new customer site wins that Jeff talked about earlier in his talk.

如果你仔細想想 Fastenal，你會發現我們其實不是一家市值 82 億美元的公司。Fastenal 旗下共有 240 個地區，平均每年收入約 3,400 萬美元。我們從這 240 個業務部門的角度來看待這項業務，我們看到了該集團的卓越和實力，並將我們看到的情況分享給所有人。而決定各地區成長差異的關鍵始終在於誰擁有最佳的大客戶策略。我們會向所有人強調——這就是為什麼我們的分桶報告如此關鍵，我們會向所有人強調它的重要性。——我真的很高興看到傑夫在前面的演講中提到的新客戶網站的簽約。

Finally, you see a sheet in there you've never seen before. This is an internal document, and you know Fastenal, we're transparent. We share internal documents with our investors. This is how we think about the future. And as Jeff leads this next chapter of Fastenal, his challenge to the group is what do we look like when we're a $15 billion organization and what do we need to do to achieve double-digit market share gains in the marketplace.

最後，你看到裡面有一張你從未見過的紙。這是一份內部文件，您也了解 Fastenal，我們一向秉持透明原則。我們會與投資者分享內部文件。這就是我們對未來的想像。傑夫帶領 Fastenal 開啟了新的篇章，他向團隊提出的挑戰是：當我們成為一家市值 150 億美元的公司時，我們會是什麼樣子？為了在市場上實現兩位數的市佔率成長，我們需要做些什麼？

So regardless of what the market is doing to push us, how do we push ourselves into the future. And it really centers on three key objectives: increasing our sales effectiveness every day, enhancing our service and expanding the total addressable market. Most of that is through geography and products, we'll see what -- possible things like services might influence from that. You see a thing on there, Blue Ops/FASTCrib. We're not going to touch on that today, but look for us talking about in the months and years to come, we see that as another leg growth driver for Fastenal in the future.

所以，無論市場如何推動我們，我們該如何推動自己走向未來？它的核心在於三個關鍵目標：提高我們每天的銷售效率，提升我們的服務，以及擴大潛在市場規模。大部分影響因素是地理位置和產品，我們將看看服務等因素可能會受到哪些影響。你在那裡看到了一個東西，Blue Ops/FASTCrib。我們今天就不深入探討這個問題了，但在未來的幾個月和幾年裡，我們會討論這個問題，我們認為這將是 Fastenal 未來另一個重要的成長動力。

With that, we'll turn it over to Q&A.

接下來，我們將進入問答環節。

(Operator Instructions) David Manthey, Baird.

（操作說明）David Manthey，Baird。

First off, double-digit net sales growth in 2026, it looks an awful lot like guidance. I'm just wondering, are you guys feeling okay up there?

首先，2026 年淨銷售額達到兩位數成長，看起來很像公司先前的預測。我只是想問，你們上面感覺還好嗎？

It's not guidance, Dave. It is -- we look at momentum, and that's what -- that's how we're thinking about the year.

戴夫，這不是指導。沒錯——我們關注的是發展勢頭，這就是——這就是我們對今年的展望。

Well, so along those lines, Dan, let me peel that back a bit. You've given us -- of course, you're looking for large customer wins. You've given us this machine equivalent unit goal that you have -- but I guess when we see that type of target, I guess, putting it together with the 10% share gain and the price you're getting, could you just sort of peel it back for us and talk about the -- just the broader economic assumption that underpins that as well as what type of price contribution you're expecting? I hope that's not going too far. That's sort of fundamental to what you're talking about here.

好的，丹，那麼讓我沿著這個思路再解釋一下。您給了我們—當然，您是想贏得大客戶。您已經為我們設定了機器當量單位目標——但是我想，當我們看到這樣的目標，再加上 10% 的市場份額增長和您獲得的價格時，您能否為我們詳細解釋一下——支撐這一目標的更廣泛的經濟假設，以及您預期的價格貢獻？我希望這不會太過分。這正是你在這裡所談論的內容的基礎。

Yes. As we move -- I'm not going to get too deep into the pricing piece, Dave, because we've done such an excellent job of being wrong every time we talk about it in 2025, that at some point, you learn the wisdom of not talking about it. With that said, there are cost increases that are flowing through the P&L. There are discussions we're having with our customers every day about price. And once -- as we move through the year, that piece will normalize.

是的。隨著我們繼續前進——戴夫，我不會深入討論定價問題，因為我們每次談到 2025 年的定價時都犯了太多錯誤，以至於在某種程度上，你會明白不談論定價的明智之處。儘管如此，損益表中還是出現了成本增加的情況。我們每天都在和客戶討論價格問題。隨著時間的推移，這種情況會逐漸恢復正常。

But -- the piece we laid out there on that company strategy is really about gross margin and revenue growth is about having a great plan, but it's also about having the attitude that this is what we're going to do, and feel really good when I look at the pieces of alignment with our sales team of our ability -- the market is big. We've talked about that in the past but feel really good about our ability to execute. And we really have aligned the pieces, I believe, to execute well in 2026. And we're probably, like anything you get a little bit -- after going through '23 and '24, I mean, it stunk. We were struggling to get our traction.

但是——我們之前闡述的公司策略實際上是關於毛利率和收入成長的，這不僅關乎制定一個偉大的計劃，也關乎擁有這樣的態度：這就是我們要做的事情，當我看到我們銷售團隊與我們的能力保持一致時，我感到非常欣慰——市場很大。我們過去也討論過這個問題，但我們對我們的執行能力感到非常有信心。我相信，我們已經做好了充分的準備，能夠在 2026 年取得好成績。而且我們可能就像你經歷過的任何事情一樣——在經歷了 2023 年和 2024 年之後，我的意思是，那段日子糟透了。我們當時很難取得進展。

We have our traction now, and we feel really good about momentum coming into the new year. In fact, I was startled this morning because I had an e-mail from Casey Miller that scared me. And I was actually searching for something Kevin Fitzgerald had sent me because I was preparing for the call and not being in the room, you're feeling a little naked. And I was reading this message from Casey, and it had one sentence. Weather is killing us this month.

我們現在已經站穩腳跟，對進入新的一年充滿信心。事實上，我今天早上被嚇了一跳，因為我收到了一封來自 Casey Miller 的電子郵件，它嚇到了我。我當時其實在找凱文·菲茨傑拉德寄給我的東西，因為我正在準備通話，不在房間裡，你會覺得有點不自在。我當時正在讀凱西發來的這則訊息，訊息只有一句話。這個月天氣糟透了。

Now we have snow in Houston and New Orleans. And all of a sudden, I looked at it, and it was an e-mail I saved from January 20 of 2025. I just saved it. Sometimes you have these things you save for weird reasons. I'm glad to say we're not seeing that kind of weather issue. Now there's still time left in the month, but we feel good about our momentum. Now I'm going to stop talking before I dig my hole any deeper.

現在休士頓和紐奧良都下雪了。突然間，我看了一眼，發現那是我保存的一封 2025 年 1 月 20 日的電子郵件。我剛剛保存了。有時候你會因為一些奇怪的原因而保存一些東西。我很高興地說，我們沒有遇到那種天氣問題。雖然這個月還有時間，但我們對目前的勢頭感到滿意。我還是閉嘴吧，免得越說越糊塗。

That's good to hear, Dan. All right. And then my follow-up on this -- the rebate timing factors, could you talk about what exactly that is? What was the impact do you think on the fourth quarter? And then does that unwind in the first quarter? Just the dynamics around that factor.

聽到這個消息真好，丹。好的。接下來我想問的是－關於退款時間因素，您能具體談談這是什麼嗎？你認為這對第四季產生了什麼影響？那麼這種情況會在第一季得到緩解嗎？只是圍繞著這個因素的動態變化。

That's -- in two parts. I'm going to help Max on this. I'll talk about what it is, Max can tell about impact. And if I -- if you think about what it is, obviously, depending on growth, you -- there is rebate programs that different suppliers have, and you estimate that as you go through the year. And in all honesty, it came in a little bit lower than we were expecting.

那分為兩個部分。我要幫Max做這件事。我會談談它是什麼，Max可以告訴你它的影響。而且，如果你仔細想想，很明顯，這取決於成長情況，不同的供應商都有返利計劃，你可以在一年中逐步估算這些回饋。說實話，實際結果比我們預期的要低。

Now part of that is it's not an exact science. The other part is we saw something. I don't want to say unique because we've seen it before, but usually it's more of a bad thing and maybe not an optimistic thing. Oftentimes, we get to the end of the year, and we'll have certain suppliers come to us because maybe a salesperson, maybe a division is trying to make a number, and they come to us sometimes with a deal. You just can't say no to.

部分原因是，它並非一門精確的科學。另一方面，我們看到了一些東西。我不想用「獨特」這個詞，因為我們以前也見過這種情況，但通常來說，這更多的是一件壞事，而不是一件令人樂觀的事。很多時候，到了年底，有些供應商會來找我們，可能是因為某個銷售人員或某個部門想完成業績目標，有時會帶著一些交易來找我們。你根本無法拒絕。

And I know we'll consider anything if we can get a return on it, and we have the cash to do it. It was crickets this year. And I asked our product -- our supply chain folks, I said, why was it crickets? Because in my mind, there's two reasons it's crickets. One is our suppliers are so far from hitting their numbers that they just throw in the towel and don't try to claw their way to a finish.

我知道，只要有利可圖，我們什麼都願意考慮，而且我們也有足夠的資金去做。今年一隻蟋蟀都沒出現。我問我們的產品－我們的供應鏈人員，為什麼杳無音信？因為在我看來，蟋蟀不叫的原因有兩個。一是我們的供應商離完成業績目標還差得很遠，所以他們乾脆放棄，不再努力爭取完成目標。

The other is, they've hit their numbers and they're keeping their gunpowder dry for next year. The impression I received it was more the latter than the former. Now that's anecdotal, Dave. But I think part of it is, we didn't see a few of the deals in the third and fourth quarter that maybe we would some years see. And that's probably a good thing for the health of our supply chain and the health of what our suppliers and customers are seeing. Max, do you want to touch on a little bit about the impact?

另一種可能是，他們已經完成了目標，正在為明年儲蓄力量。我的感覺是後者比前者更甚。這只是個軼事，戴夫。但我認為部分原因是，我們在第三季和第四季沒有看到一些交易，而這些交易或許幾年後才會出現。這對我們的供應鏈健康以及供應商和客戶所看到的狀況來說，可能是一件好事。馬克斯，你想稍微談談這件事的影響嗎？

I will. Yes. So Dave, there's a couple of things to consider, first of all, this supplier rebate was a positive true-up last year, and it was a negative true-up this year. And additionally, compared to the previous couple of quarters, this is a -- typically, these are annual amounts that we estimate earlier on in the year, and we bake those into our run rates. And so we had a little bit of a -- call it, a little slight overstatement in Q2 and Q3 as well.

我會。是的。所以戴夫，有幾件事需要考慮，首先，供應商回饋去年是正向調整，而今年是負向調整。此外，與前幾季相比，這是一個——通常，這些是我們年初估計的年度金額，我們會將這些金額計入我們的運行率中。因此，我們在第二季和第三季也出現了一些——姑且稱之為——輕微的誇大。

So this is, again, just the timing element is an estimate, but just to characterize the amount or the size for you, I mentioned in my talking points that the year-over-year drop of 50 basis points is made up of this as well as some inventory timing cost flows. The supplier rebate is the bigger of the two, portion. And so with that, we expect that -- this to completely normalize going forward.

所以，再次強調，時間因素只是一個估計值，但為了向您描述金額或規模，我在要點中提到，同比下降 50 個基點是由這個因素以及一些庫存時間成本流組成的。供應商返利是兩者中較大的一部分。因此，我們預計這種情況將在未來完全正常化。

Ryan Merkel, William Blair.

瑞安·默克爾，威廉·布萊爾。

I wanted to start off on incremental margins for '26. I hate to lead the witness, but I was thinking high 20s with double-digit top line and then lapping the reload of incentive comp. But curious for any color.

我希望從 2026 年開始逐步提高利潤率。我不想誤導證人，但我當時的想法是年薪接近30萬英鎊，總收入達到兩位數，然後還能拿到激勵獎金。但對任何顏色都感到好奇。

Ryan, from my perspective, that's not an unreasonable number. Once we get -- first quarter, we still have the anniversary-ing of our bonus ramp-up. And our incremental margin, obviously, it's predicated on top line doing what we're thinking about. It's also predicated on our ability to manage the gross profit side of the equation, and we felt some pain of that in the fourth quarter. But your number doesn't make me uncomfortable.

瑞安，依我看，這個數字不算離譜。一旦我們進入第一季度，我們還有獎金逐步發放週年紀念日。顯然，我們的增量利潤取決於營收能否如我們所設想的那樣成長。這也取決於我們能否有效管理毛利，而我們在第四季度確實感受到了這方面的一些困難。但你的號碼並不會讓我感到不自在。

That's great to hear. And then my second question is just back to price. It has built slower than I think you and we expected. And I just want to be clear on why that's the case. Is it that the suppliers aren't raising as fast as you expected? Or is there other reasons?

聽到這個消息真是太好了。我的第二個問題還是關於價格。它的發展速度比你我預期的還要慢。我只是想弄清楚為什麼會這樣。是供應商漲價的速度沒有達到您的預期？還是有其他原因？

Part of it is, frankly, fatigue. Part of it is this last piece being a little bit more heavily skewed towards the non-fastener is problematic. And part of it is it's not an exact science. And the dangerous part about us, sometimes being so candid in telling you exactly what we think is that we don't know. And we're speculating based on what we see and what we think is going to happen. And as you saw in some of the things we thought about in the July and October time frame, we were just wrong.

坦白說，部分原因是疲勞。部分原因是最後一塊零件過於偏向非緊固件，造成了問題。部分原因是它不是一門精確的科學。我們身上危險的一點是，我們有時會非常坦誠地告訴你我們到底在想什麼，而這正好說明我們其實並不知道。我們是根據我們所看到的和我們認為將要發生的事情進行推測的。正如你們在我們七月和十月期間思考的一些事情中所看到的那樣，我們完全錯了。

Tommy Moll, Stephens.

湯米·莫爾，史蒂芬斯。

Dan, you made a comment that you would welcome a green shoot or two. I think it's safe to say we all would. But let me ask the question in a different way here. Are you seeing any of your large heavy-manufacturing markets, let's say, stabilizing or not getting worse? I'm just thinking auto, machinery maybe would be too worth unpacking.

丹，你曾說過你樂見一、兩株嫩芽冒出來。我想我們可以肯定地說，我們都會這麼做。但我想換個方式問這個問題。你們的大型重工業市場，比如說，有沒有出現趨於穩定或沒有惡化的跡象？我只是在想，汽車、機械之類的東西可能太值得拆箱了。

I'm going to pivot that one -- this one over to Jeff. So I'm going to surprise him on the spot.

我打算把這個問題──這個問題──交給傑夫來回答。所以我打算當場給他一個驚喜。

No, we're not seeing any real decline. It's really flat. We're not seeing a lot of -- I mean, I did get the note that someone was mentioning that the economy was slightly improving. We're not really seeing that, but we're also not seeing any declines in our manufacturing as far as the year-over-year usage.

不，我們沒有看到任何真正的下滑。這裡地勢非常平坦。我們沒有看到太多——我的意思是，我確實收到消息說有人提到經濟略有改善。我們並沒有真正看到這種情況，但就同比使用量而言，我們的製造業也沒有出現任何下降。

Yes. Max, welcome to the call. Appreciate your commentary on some of the capital allocation framework. What I heard sounds very similar, maybe identical to what we've heard previously from Fastenal, but I'm just curious to the extent you can comment on any different priorities or frameworks you might bring to the role. We appreciate hearing a little bit.

是的。Max，歡迎接聽電話。感謝您對資本配置框架的一些評論。我聽到的內容聽起來非常相似，可能與我們之前從 Fastenal 聽到的內容一模一樣，但我只是好奇您能否就您可能會為這個職位帶來的任何不同的優先事項或框架發表一些看法。我們很樂意聽您分享一些資訊。

No. I would say at this point, you heard me exactly correct. There is not an adjustment in our thinking, but at the same time I'm two months into the role. And so these are things that we'll look at, but I feel very comfortable, and we feel comfortable with our approach to capital allocation. There will always be tweaks. If I wasn't here, there would still be tweaks. And so we would continuously monitor and assess as we go. And then we'll share -- to the extent that those are material changes, we'd always want to share those.

不。我想說，你剛才說的完全沒錯。我們的思維方式並沒有改變，但同時，我擔任這個職位已經兩個月了。所以這些都是我們會考慮的因素，但我覺得很放心，我們對目前的資本配置方式也很有信心。總是會有一些調整。即使我不在，也還需要進行一些調整。因此，我們會邊走邊持續監測和評估。然後我們會分享——如果是實質的變化，我們總是希望分享這些變化。

Ken Newman, KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Ken Newman，KeyBanc Capital Markets。

Maybe first, Dan, I think you may have touched on this a little bit in your prepared remarks, but if I remember correctly, last quarter, one of the takeaways there was you did give up maybe a little bit of price to support some stronger volume growth and support some market share gains here. Just to clarify, is it correct to assume that you saw a similar dynamic this quarter as well? And if so, maybe just some help on quantifying what that impact was.

丹，首先，我想你可能在事先準備好的發言稿中稍微提到過這一點，但如果我沒記錯的話，上個季度的一個要點是，為了支持更強勁的銷量增長和市場份額的提升，你們可能在價格上做出了一些讓步。為了確認一下，我可以假設您在本季也觀察到了類似的情況嗎？如果是這樣的話，或許可以幫忙量化一下這種影響究竟有多大。

I think we'd struggle to quantify that. Max might have some insight on that, but I'm not going to -- maybe he can offer it up if he chooses, but I don't want to put him on the spot. But I will tell you, philosophically, we love to grow first and foremost. And we love to figure things out. And there's -- when we're taking on new business and growing, we'll take in the short term that we have to challenge ourselves to figure out the supply chain for that customer.

我認為我們很難量化這一點。馬克斯或許對此有一些見解，但我不會──如果他願意，他可以主動提出，但我不想讓他難堪。但從哲學角度來說，我們首先熱愛的是成長。我們喜歡弄清楚事情的來龍去脈。而且，當我們承接新業務並不斷成長時，短期內我們必須挑戰自己，找出該客戶的供應鏈。

And we'll take that opportunity on every day. Where you feel the frustration side sometimes is where you have existing business, and we get squeezed a little bit and we need to step it up and push our team and push the market to readjust that. And I don't know, Max, if you want to add anything. And if you don't, at this point, we'll have to punt on that a little bit, Ken. Sorry about that.

我們將每天都抓住這樣的機會。有時你會感到沮喪，因為你已經有了一定的業務，但我們卻受到了一些擠壓，我們需要加倍努力，推動我們的團隊和市場進行調整。我不知道，Max，你是否還有什麼要補充的。如果你不這麼做，那麼目前我們只能暫時擱置這個問題了，肯。抱歉。

No. Maybe to the extent -- I'm just summarizing a little bit of what Dan says, we don't need to right now. So this is a time and place assessment for us as we create value. So we're feeling very good with our current approach and no need to get aggressive in that area.

不。或許在某種程度上——我只是簡單概括一下丹所說的話——我們現在不需要這樣做。所以，這對我們來說是一個關於創造價值的時間和地點的評估。所以我們對目前的做法非常滿意，沒有必要在這個領域採取激進的措施。

Okay. That's helpful. And then for my follow-up here. Max, just I think someone had mentioned a headwind to December sales just due to holiday timing. That's not too unsurprising since I think one of your other public peers had mentioned something similar. But I'm curious, Max, if you had any color on what that impact on holiday timing or extended shutdowns were to ADS in the month of December? And how we should think about that maybe normalizing out in January?

好的。那很有幫助。接下來我要補充一點。Max，我記得有人提到過，由於假期臨近，12 月份的銷售額可能會受到不利影響。這倒也不算太意外，因為我覺得你的其他公眾人物也提到過類似的事情。但我很好奇，Max，你是否了解假期安排或延長停工對12月份ADS的影響？我們該如何看待這種情況可能在1月恢復正常？

Yes. I wouldn't say we quantified it other than if you just take the sequentials -- and Dan did a nice job of explaining why we don't get overly worked up, particularly with the sequentials in November, December. But if you just take those sequentials last year was like an [8.7%]. And I think this year, sequentially, November, December is like a [9.3%], in that ballpark, you can back into that potential element there. But we also just saw less activity in the very latter part of December. And so we feel like that will just come back into play in January. I don't -- we don't look at this as a structural change or touching on our confidence on where our sales are heading.

是的。除了查看連續數據之外，我不會說我們已經對其進行了量化——丹很好地解釋了為什麼我們不會過度緊張，尤其是在 11 月和 12 月的連續數據方面。但如果你只看去年的那些連續比賽，就像…[8.7%]。我認為今年，11 月和 12 月的成長率約為 9.3%，在這個範圍內，你可以估算出這個潛在因素。但我們也看到，12 月下旬的交易活動減少。因此，我們覺得這種情況會在一月再次出現。我不認為——我們並不把這看作是結構性變化，也不認為這會動搖我們對銷售前景的信心。

One other thing I'll add, and we did this analysis last year. We did it again this year, where we looked at the first two weeks of December, and we looked at our vending activity. And what we've tried to understand is what was our vending activity telling us. When you have a facility with 1,000 employees, 500 employees, you pick a number, we know on a given day, in a given week, how many swipes of a badge we expect to see that indicates there's activity in that facility. What we saw a year ago is we had Christmas and New Year falling midweek.

我還要補充一點，我們去年就做過這方面的分析。今年我們再次進行了這項工作，我們查看了 12 月的前兩週，並查看了我們的自動販賣機活動。我們試圖了解的是，我們的自動販賣活動告訴我們什麼。當你的工廠有 1000 名員工、500 名員工時，你選擇一個數字，我們就知道在特定的一天、特定的一周內，我們預期會看到多少次刷卡，這表明該工廠有活動。一年前我們看到的情況是，聖誕節和新年都落在周中。

So it wasn't touching on the weekend because it's on Monday or Tuesday, it wasn't touching on Friday, it was that Wednesday, Thursday, which is just purgatory for us because you have these partial weeks. And what we saw this year is Christmas week was a little bit better as far as what percentage of customers were shut down Christmas week. And anecdotally, what we heard was a lot of companies that normally are shut down 24th and 25th, they operated a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and shut down 25th and 26th. The week of New Year's was totally different. We saw the number of customers that were shut down double from what it was in 2025 -- or 2024, excuse me.

所以它不會碰到週末，因為它是在周一或週二；它也不會碰到週五；它碰到的是周三、週四，這對我們來說簡直是煎熬，因為一周只有一部分。今年我們看到的情況是，聖誕節期間關閉的顧客比例略有下降。據傳聞，許多公司通常在 24 街和 25 街歇業，但他們週一、週二、週三照常營業，25 街和 26 街則歇業。新年那一週完全不同。我們看到，2025 年（或更準確地說，是 2024 年）被關閉的客戶數量翻了一番。

And when I say double, that's going from, say, 10% of customers shutdown to 20% of customers shutdown. That's the bad news. And that was -- that cursed the end of our month. However, I'm pleased to say, in the first two weeks of January, we've seen a complete normalization of shutdown facilities from what we saw in '22, '23, '24 and '25 back to low single digits. So a big shutdown over New Year's week, it's normalized.

我說翻倍，是指從 10% 的客戶停業率增加到 20% 的客戶停業率。這是壞消息。而那件事——那件事詛咒了我們月底的到來。不過，我很高興地告訴大家，在 1 月的前兩週，我們已經看到停工設施的數量從 2022 年、2023 年、2024 年和 2025 年的水準完全恢復到個位數。所以，新年期間的大規模停工已經成常態了。

Chris Snyder, Morgan Stanley.

克里斯‧史奈德，摩根士丹利。

I wanted to talk a little bit about price expectations in '26. It seems like there will be incremental price coming. And I know you guys maybe don't want to speak to specific numbers like the prior couple of quarters. But could you provide some color just on how material this potential next round of price asks is? We'd obviously see metal prices pushing higher here. And I mean, is it fair to think '26 price like for the full year average would be above '25 levels?

我想稍微談談 2026 年的價格預期。看來價格還會繼續上漲。我知道你們可能不想像前幾季那樣談論具體數字。但您能否具體說明一下，下一輪潛在的價格上漲幅度有多大？顯然，我們會看到金屬價格繼續上漲。我的意思是，認為 2026 年全年平均價格會高於 2025 年水平，這種想法合理嗎？

Yes. I'll take that one. Dan already said why we don't want to get very specific on this guidance. But I would just -- I guess I'd invite you to look back at our '25 trends. And just you can mathematically back into the fact that we will have some carryover pricing impacts.

是的。我選那個。丹已經解釋過為什麼我們不想在這個指導方針上給出非常具體的建議。但我只想——我想我會邀請大家回顧我們 2025 年的流行趨勢。透過數學推算，我們可以得出這樣的結論：價格方面會有一些延續性影響。

And yes, will that be substantial? No, and then we can also just say that -- and Dan alluded to this already, we will continue to go after pricing. But at this point, it's just such -- there's so many moving parts. And based on the way that we've talked about strategizing how we actually put price through the market. It depends on a lot of things.

是的，那會是實質的嗎？不，我們還可以說——丹已經暗示過這一點——我們將繼續追求價格優勢。但目前情況就是這樣——牽涉到太多變數。而這一切都基於我們討論過的，關於如何透過市場定價的策略。這取決於很多因素。

It's the input cost and it's the customer behavior. So I would just, again, suggest if you look mathematically, we are going to have a positive compare. And then we'll, of course, go for more pricing as well. And so I think that's where we'll leave it for now. And as we go in through each quarter, I think we'll get a little bit better view of the world, and we'll try to share that as much as we can to the extent we have the confidence on the estimate.

關鍵在於投入成本和客戶行為。所以我再次建議，從數學角度來看，我們會得到一個正面的對比結果。當然，之後我們還會進行更多定價。所以我想我們今天就先說到這裡吧。隨著每季的推進，我認為我們會對世界情勢有更清晰的認識，我們會盡可能地與大家分享這些訊息，只要我們對預測有信心。

I appreciate that. And then maybe if I could follow up just on the macro. Obviously, a lot of choppiness in the data, whether weather, holiday timing, channel dynamics the last couple of quarters. But when you kind of think back and look at the macro or customer end demand, do you feel like things in January are materially better or worse than they were three to six months ago? Are we kind of still in this mostly sideways pattern, looking through some of the monthly volatility?

我很感激。然後，也許我可以就宏觀層面進行後續跟進。顯然，過去幾季的數據波動很大，無論是天氣、假日時間或通路動態等因素都可能導致數據波動。但當你回過頭來看宏觀經濟或終端客戶需求時，你覺得一月的情況比三到六個月前有實質的改善還是惡化？我們是否仍處於這種以橫盤為主的走勢模式中，忽略了月波動？

I would tend towards sideways. I don't think we're seeing anything one direction or another. You're hearing some optimism from us probably because we internally beat ourselves up so much in '23 and '24 as we were struggling, that it feels good to be achieving success. And frankly, it feels good to be paying bonuses to our employees again.

我傾向於橫向移動。我認為我們目前還沒有看到任何明顯的趨勢。你們可能聽到我們有些樂觀，是因為我們在 2023 年和 2024 年苦苦掙扎時，內心對自己進行了太多的批評，所以現在取得成功感覺很好。坦白說，能夠再次發給員工獎金，感覺真好。

Stephen Volkmann, Jefferies.

Stephen Volkmann，傑富瑞集團。

Maybe just a couple of quick follow-ups. I'm curious on slide 5, as you look at your e-business, those -- that trend has been decelerating now for a while, and I guess it's been fairly flat as a percent of total. Do you expect that to start to reaccelerate going forward?

或許只需要幾個簡短的後續問題。我對您在第 5 張幻燈片中提到的電子商務部分感到好奇，這些——這種趨勢已經放緩了一段時間，而且我猜它佔總量的百分比一直相當平穩。你認為這種情況未來會再次加速嗎？

Yes. I mean that's -- this is Jeff. Yes, that's definitely our thought process. I mean, we put a lot of time and resource into relaunching our website. We've put a lot of time not only in the e-business, but how it actually relates to our FMI and our solutions side. So I mean, it's a big focus for us next year, and we definitely see that to be becoming an increasing number as we move forward, especially in the latter half of '26.

是的。我的意思是，這就是──傑夫。是的，這絕對是我們的思路。我的意思是，我們投入了大量的時間和資源來重新推出我們的網站。我們投入了大量時間，不僅研究電子商務，還研究它與我們的FMI和解決方案的實際連結。所以，這將會是我們明年的重點，而且我們肯定會看到，隨著我們不斷前進，尤其是在 2026 年下半年，這個數字將會越來越大。

And how should I think about that impacting gross margin or EBIT margin going forward?

那麼，我該如何看待這會對未來的毛利率或息稅前利潤率產生怎樣的影響呢？

I'll help on that one. If -- so within our e-business, the vast majority of it is what we call e-procurement, which is things like EDI, things -- punch out, it's where we have established larger customers that are sourcing it. It's really, in many cases, it's the extension of a great key account program.

我會幫忙的。如果——所以在我們的電子商務中，絕大多數都是我們所說的電子採購，例如 EDI、Punkout 之類的，這是我們已經建立起來的大客戶採購的地方。在很多情況下，這其實是優秀大客戶計畫的延伸。

The piece that Jeff just touched on, though, is on the e-commerce piece of it, things like website. That's actually a pretty small piece of our business. That component, it's going to depend on which customer is using it. But even if that component starts to -- even when it starts accelerating, it's still a relatively small piece that it doesn't really have that much ability to move gross profit up or down.

不過，傑夫剛才提到的部分是關於電子商務的，像是網站之類的。實際上，這只是我們業務中很小的一部分。那個組件具體由哪個客戶使用，取決於該客戶是誰。但即使這一部分開始——即使它開始加速成長，它仍然是一個相對較小的一部分，它實際上並沒有多大的能力來推動毛利的上升或下降。

Chris Dankert, Loop Capital Markets.

Chris Dankert，Loop 資本市場。

I guess, first one here, I'd point more at Max. I guess, just as we look at the first quarter gross margin, typically, we see a slight seasonal step up. Anything to keep in mind that would kind of nudge us off that typical seasonal movement in gross margin here?

我想，首先，我會更傾向於Max。我想，就像我們查看第一季毛利率一樣，通常我們會看到輕微的季節性增長。有什麼需要注意的事項可以幫助我們擺脫毛利率典型的季節性波動嗎？

No. It's -- this is an important topic because there are a couple of things. So when you just -- the step-up is fine, just keep -- bear in mind that some of what we talked about in our Q4 margins, the timing-related items. So you take that as a factor in Q4 of '25 and then you take your normal step-up. And then you can also compare against the prior year Q1 as well. And so that all should triangulate fairly well for you to give you a general idea, at least where we're thinking. Even the bonus reset, which can be a little -- potentially be a little confusing, is only a year-over-year impact, but not a sequential. So I think you're thinking about it right.

不。這是一個重要的主題，因為其中涉及兩方面內容。所以，當你只是——升級沒問題，只是要記住——我們在第四季度利潤率中談到的一些與時間相關的事項。所以你要把這個因素考慮在內，在 2025 年第四季度，然後再按正常比例增加。然後你也可以與上年第一季進行比較。這樣一來，所有這些資訊應該都能很好地相互印證，讓你大致了解我們的想法。即使是獎金重置（這可能會有點——也可能有點令人困惑），也只是同比影響，而不是連續影響。所以我覺得你的想法是對的。

Got it. That's helpful. And then I'm not sure if it's more a Jeff or a Max question here, but thinking about some of the investment spending and investment into 2026, I guess anything onetime you need to call out? Maybe is the fleet refresh in good shape? How do we think about vending? Anything kind of in the SG&A line to think about for '26 year?

知道了。那很有幫助。然後我不確定這個問題更適合問 Jeff 還是 Max，但考慮到一些投資支出和對 2026 年的投資，我想你有什麼需要特別指出的嗎？或許艦隊更新計畫進展順利？我們如何看待自動販賣機？2026 年的銷售、管理及行政費用有什麼需要考慮的嗎？

Some of our bigger -- our bigger investments will be in the distribution space just as we increase both a bit the size of our footprint but also the throughput. We definitely have some truck fleet items that we need to push through as well, but that would be less in size. And of course, we -- obviously, we distribute through a lot of tech areas like the FMI space. So I would just say, to answer your question at the top side, it's getting distribution capacity and throughput ready for our future, which is here.

我們一些較大的投資將用於分銷領域，因為我們既會稍微擴大我們的業務規模，也會提高吞吐量。我們當然也有一些卡車車隊相關的項目需要推進，但規模會小一些。當然，我們——很顯然，我們的產品分銷遍及許多技術領域，例如FMI領域。所以，為了回答你前面提出的問題，我想說的是，這是為了我們的未來（而未來已經到來）做好準備，提升分銷能力和吞吐量。

So with that, we're four minutes before the hour. Thank you for tuning in on today's earnings call. I suspect a few of you might have watched the National Championship game last night for football. I would like to give a call out, and that's to the University of Wisconsin - River Falls. On January 4 -- and the University of Wisconsin - River Falls is my alma mater.

就這樣，距離整點還有四分鐘。感謝您收聽今天的財報電話會議。我猜你們當中有些可能昨晚觀看了全國橄欖球錦標賽。我想特別提及威斯康辛大學河瀑分校。1月4日－威斯康辛大學河瀑分校是我的母校。

On January 4, day 1, the Division III national title in football. So my congratulations to them. And best of luck to the women's hockey team. They won the national title the last two years running, and good luck on a three-peat. Thanks, everybody. Have a great week.

1月4日，第一天，第三級全國足球冠軍賽。所以，我向他們表示祝賀。祝女子冰球隊好運。他們連續兩年獲得全國冠軍，祝他們三連霸。謝謝大家。祝你一周愉快。

Thank you. That does conclude today's teleconference and webcast. You may disconnect your lines at this time, and have a wonderful day. We thank you for your participation today.

謝謝。今天的電話會議和網路直播到此結束。現在您可以斷開線路了，祝您有美好的一天。感謝您今天的參與。