The end of an earnings season can be a great time to discover new stocks and assess how companies are handling the current business environment. Let’s take a look at how WESCO (NYSE:WCC) and the rest of the maintenance and repair distributors stocks fared in Q3.

Supply chain and inventory management are themes that grew in focus after COVID wreaked havoc on the global movement of raw materials and components. Maintenance and repair distributors that boast reliable selection and quickly deliver products to customers can benefit from this theme. While e-commerce hasn’t disrupted industrial distribution as much as consumer retail, it is still a real threat, forcing investment in omnichannel capabilities to serve customers everywhere. Additionally, maintenance and repair distributors are at the whim of economic cycles that impact the capital spending and construction projects that can juice demand.

The 8 maintenance and repair distributors stocks we track reported a slower Q3. As a group, revenues were in line with analysts’ consensus estimates.

In light of this news, share prices of the companies have held steady as they are up 4.9% on average since the latest earnings results.

WESCO (NYSE:WCC)

Based in Pittsburgh, WESCO (NYSE:WCC) provides electrical, industrial, and communications products and augments them with services such as supply chain management.

WESCO reported revenues of $5.49 billion, down 2.7% year on year. This print was in line with analysts’ expectations, and overall, it was a satisfactory quarter for the company with a solid beat of analysts’ EPS estimates but organic revenue in line with analysts’ estimates.

"We had a strong close to our third quarter, with sales slightly up compared to the second quarter driven by accelerating momentum in our Communications and Security Solutions segment, including double-digit sales growth in our global data center business." said John Engel, Chairman, President and CEO.

Interestingly, the stock is up 14.8% since reporting and currently trades at $204.21.

Is now the time to buy WESCO? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it’s free.

Best Q3: DXP (NASDAQ:DXPE)

Founded during the emergence of Big Oil in Texas, DXP (NASDAQ:DXPE) provides pumps, valves, and other industrial components.

DXP reported revenues of $472.9 million, up 12.8% year on year, outperforming analysts’ expectations by 6.8%. The business had an incredible quarter with an impressive beat of analysts’ EPS and EBITDA estimates.

DXP achieved the biggest analyst estimates beat and fastest revenue growth among its peers. The market seems happy with the results as the stock is up 36.7% since reporting. It currently trades at $69.62.