Costco Wholesale Sees Growth in Same-Store, E-Commerce Sales
December 14 2017 - 5:35PM
Dow Jones News
By Aisha Al-Muslim
Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST) reported its first-quarter profit
rose 17% from a year ago as same-store sales rose by a larger
margin than analysts expected.
The Issaquah, Wash.-based warehouse club on Thursday reported a
profit of $640 million, or $1.45 a share, up from $545 million, or
$1.24 a share, a year earlier.
Revenue for the membership-based warehouse retailer jumped 13%
to $31.81 billion in the first quarter. Retail sales rose 13%.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had forecast adjusted
earnings of $1.34 a share on $31.47 billion in revenue.
Investors have expressed concerns about Costco's ability to
compete with Amazon.com Inc., following the online giant's
acquisition of Whole Foods, while also being able to address
e-commerce initiatives and membership growth.
Shares fell 0.5% in after-hours trading.
Same-store sales growth was 10.5% in the quarter, ahead of the
10.2% growth projected from analysts polled by FactSet. E-commerce
sales rose 43.5%.
The 12-week quarter included one less sales day in the U.S.
compared with last year due to the shift of Thanksgiving Day this
year, Costco said. Pre-Thanksgiving and Black Friday weekend sales
also fell into the first quarter this year compared to the second
quarter last year. Those factors produced a benefit of about 1.5%
in the U.S., and slightly less worldwide, the company said.
Write to Aisha Al-Muslim at aisha.al-muslim@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 14, 2017 17:20 ET (22:20 GMT)
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