Costco Sees Strong October Same-Store Sales

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By Trey Thoelcke Published

Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ: COST) this morning reported a better-than-expected rise in October same-store sales, due in part to higher gasoline prices and a weak dollar.

The company said its net sales in October increased 9% year-over-year to $7.67 billion.

Same-store sales, or those sales at locations open for more than a year, in October came to 7% for the United States and 9% internationally. Analysts had expected a rise of 6.6% domestically. Excluding inflation in fuel prices and strength of foreign currencies, same-store sales were 5% both domestically and internationally.

In a prerecorded conference call, Costco’s director of finance and investor relations, David Sherwood, said several Costco warehouses has closed due to power outages caused by Hurricane Sandy. “None of the warehouses suffered extensive damages,” he said. These closures are expected to have a marginal impact on November sales.

Costco shares are inactive in premarket trading, after closing last night at $98.43, in a 52-week range of $78.81 to $104.43. The mean price target before this news was $102.64.

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About the Author Trey Thoelcke →

Trey has been an editor and author at 24/7 Wall St. for more than a decade, where he has published thousands of articles analyzing corporate earnings, dividend stocks, short interest, insider buying, private equity, and market trends. His comprehensive coverage spans the full spectrum of financial markets, from blue-chip stalwarts to emerging growth companies.

Beyond 24/7 Wall St., Trey has created and edited financial content for Benzinga and AOL's BloggingStocks, contributing additional hundreds of articles to the investment community. He previously oversaw the 24/7 Climate Insights site, managing editorial operations and content strategy, and currently oversees and creates content for My Investing News.

Trey's editorial expertise extends across multiple publishing environments. He served as production editor at Dearborn Financial Publishing and development editor at Kaplan, where he helped shape financial education materials. Earlier in his career, he worked as a writer-producer at SVE. His freelance editing portfolio includes work for prestigious clients such as Sage Publications, Rand McNally, the Institute for Supply Management, the American Library Association, Eggplant Literary Productions, and Spiegel.

Outside of financial journalism, Trey writes fiction and has been an active member of the writing community for years, overseeing a long-running critique group and moderating workshop sessions at regional conventions. He lives with his family in an old house in the Midwest.

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