Costco April Sales Beat Analysts' Expectations

May 8, 2014

The timing of Easter this year left Costco with 27 days of sales in April, rather than last year's 28.  But despite the Easter holiday shift, Costco still came out on top with a 7% increase in net sales that reportedly beat analysts' expectations.

The company reported net sales of $8.56 billion for the month, up from $7.98 billion during the similar four-week period last year.  Although Easter's timing this year did negatively impact this year's net and comparable sales by an estimated 1.5 to 2%, inflation in gasoline prices had a positive impact on comparable sales for the four-week period.

Total comparable sales increased 5%, U.S. comparable sales rose 5% and international comparable sales rose 2%.

Excludig gasoline prices and the negative impact of foreign currencies, total comparable sales rose 5%, U.S. comparable sales rose 5% and international comparable sales rose 7%.

Costco plans to report its third quarter results May 29.  It currently operates 652 warehouses, including 463 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 87 in Canada, 33 in Mexico, 25 in the United Kingdom, 19 in Japan, 10 in Taiwan, 10 in Korea and five in Australia.  Costco also operates electronic commerce web sites in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom and Mexico.

Source: Retailing Today