Costco's stock slips as quarterly sales come up short

By Bill Peters

Retailer's e-commerce sales were up 18.9% year over year

Shares of Costco Wholesale Corp. slipped after hours, after the membership warehouse retailer reported sales trends that came up shy of Wall Street's estimates.

Costco (COST) reported fiscal fourth-quarter net income of $2.35 billion, or $5.29 a share, compared with $2.16 billion, or $4.86 a share, in the same quarter last year.

Revenue rose 1% to $78.2 billion, same-store sales rose 5.4% and e-commerce sales were up 18.9% on a year-over-year basis.

Analysts polled by FactSet expected Costco to report earnings per share of $5.08, on revenue of $79.91 billion and a same-store sales gain of 5.7%.

Shares were down 0.6% in after-hours trading on Thursday. The stock finished regular trading 0.8% lower.

Still, Costco's stock is up 58.5% over the past 12 months, as inflation-fatigued shoppers gravitate towards the chain's discount and bulk offerings. Wall Street had also been waiting for the company to raise its membership fees, which it did earlier this month - the first such fee hike in seven years.

Retailers, particularly those that aren't selling basics like groceries, have had a tougher time navigating a world of higher prices. Analysts have said the environment favors the biggest chains, which have larger e-commerce and delivery infrastructures and more capacity to run discounts.

-Bill Peters

This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

09-26-24 1633ET

Copyright (c) 2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.