US Markets
Costco Wholesale Quarterly Revenue Tops Views Amid Gas Business Strength
Costco Wholesale's (COST) fiscal third-quarter revenue topped market estimates buoyed by its gas business amid high fuel prices, though the warehouse chain's earnings fell short of expectations.Consolidated revenue came in at $70.53 billion for the quarter ended May 10, up from $63.21 billion a year earlier, the company said late Thursday. The consensus on FactSet was for $69.68 billion. Net income increased to $4.93 a share from $4.28 a year earlier, but missed Wall Street's view of $4.98.Elevated energy prices and consumer price sensitivity, driven by the conflict in the Middle East, drove "many members to use our gas stations for the very first time in the third quarter," Costco Chief Executive Roland Vachris said on an earnings call, according to a FactSet transcript. This resulted in "record-breaking volumes" for the company's gas business."Our gas team performed exceptionally well to manage this unprecedented demand," Vachris said. "We believe this will drive even greater loyalty with these members in the future as members who use our gas stations typically spend more with us in the warehouse."The high fuel prices helped provide an "incremental" traffic boost at Costco, Truist Securities said in a note to clients Thursday. "The one minor fundamental knock is that membership growth continues to moderate."The company's shares were down 0.4% in premarket activity Friday. The stock has jumped 15% so far this year.The warehouse chain is "closely monitoring the longer-term inflationary impacts of higher oil prices, as well as the future impacts of tariffs," Vachris told analysts. The company has begun submitting its refund claims for tariffs that were invoked by US President Donald Trump under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act last year, but declared invalid by the US Supreme Court in February."These submissions will go in over what may be the next few months, and based on what other claimants have experienced, we should start receiving refunds on approved claims on a rolling basis over the following two to three months," Vachris said on the call.Comparable sales, excluding the impacts from changes in gasoline prices and foreign currency, rose 6.6% at the company level in the third quarter. The metric increased 6.8% in the US, 6.2% in Canada and 5.9% internationally.Costco's traffic, or shopping frequency, increased 2.4% globally, while the average transaction or ticket was up 7.3%, including impacts from gas price deflation and foreign exchange, Chief Financial Officer Gary Millerchip said on the call. Membership fee income increased 11% year over year to $1.37 billion. The company has "relatively low" inventory exposure to shipping issues caused by the Middle East conflict, according to Millerchip."We believe the company will continue to deliver solid traffic growth for the foreseeable future, as its extreme value proposition continues to draw in consumers who are increasingly seeking value/newness, especially in the current macro environment," Truist said. The brokerage raised its price target on the Costco stock to $1,011 from $977.
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