Heating, Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI) released its monthly TRENDS report, showing the average sales performance by HARDI distributors was an increase of 2.7 percent during August 2019.

The average annualized sales growth for the 12 months through August 2019 is 7.6 percent.

"There are two important factors to consider with the sales this month," said HARDI Market Research and Benchmarking Analyst Brian Loftus. "It was warmer during August of 2018 in four of our economic regions and about flat year-to-year in two others.  There was one less billing day across all seven regions.  We estimate the sales growth for the month would have been closer to 7% with the same number of billing days, and that would be a strong result given the poor cooling degree day comparison."

The Days Sales Outstanding (DSO), a measure of how quickly customers pay their bills, is now 44.2 days. "The DSO is consistent with performance for this time of year," said Loftus. "I was wondering if a slower sales rate this year would lead to a lower DSO but that has not been the case.

"This is the Tom Brady of economic expansions in terms of duration and continued success," said Loftus. "We have 107 months, almost nine years, of consecutive job growth. The unemployment rate continues at the formerly unimaginable rate of 3.7%. Consumer confidence has eased a little [Peyton Manning was slower in his Super Bowl winning final season] but remains at nothing short of very high levels.  Some of the economic reports are generating concern, but the overall economic performance is excellent, especially at this advanced age. This economy is not done winning and either are the Patriots."

HARDI members do not receive financial compensation in exchange for their monthly sales data and can discontinue their participation without prior notice or penalty. Participation is voluntary, and the depth of market coverage varies from region to region. An independent entity collects and compiles the data that can include products not directly associated with the HVACR industry.