Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ: COST) reported fourth-quarter and fiscal 2014 results before markets opened Thursday. The big-box club store posted quarterly diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $1.58 on revenue of $34.75 billion. In the same period a year ago, Costco reported EPS of $1.40 on revenue of $31.77 billion. Fourth-quarter results also compare to the Thomson Reuters consensus estimates for EPS of $1.52 and $35.47 billion in revenue.
For the full year, Costco reported EPS of $4.65 on revenues of $112.64 billion. Consensus estimates called for EPS of $4.60 on revenues of $112.55 billion.
Same-store sales rose 6% in the United States during the fourth quarter, 6% in the rest of the world and by a combined 6%, including sales of gasoline. Excluding gasoline sales and currency translation effects, U.S. same-store sales rose 6%, international sales rose 8% and combined sales rose 7%.
For the month of September, same-store sales rose 5% in the United States, 2% internationally and 4% on a combined basis. Excluding gasoline and currency translation effects, same-store sales rose 6% across the board. We noted earlier this morning the strength of these same-store sales numbers.
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Membership fee revenue rose from $716 million to $768 million year-over-year, and operating income rose by $15 million from $954 million to $1.09 billion.
Sears Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: SHLD) has invested heavily in its Shop Your Way membership/loyalty program, which it sees as turning around the company’s fortunes. The idea is very similar to the Costco model, with one important difference: Costco charges a fee for membership and Sears does not. Costco’s profits — all of them — are due to membership fees. Sears profits are, well, nonexistent.
Costco did not publish any guidance, but consensus estimates for the first fiscal quarter of 2015 call for EPS of $1.06 on revenues of $26.82 billion. For the full fiscal year, EPS is expected to come in at $5.14 on revenues of $121.4 billion.
Costco operates 664 warehouse stores internationally and 469 in the United States. The company plans to open eight new stores by the end of the 2014 calendar year.
Shares were up about 0.3% premarket trading Wednesday to $125.66, after having closed Tuesday at $125.27 in a 52-week range of $109.50 to $127.78. Thomson Reuters had a consensus analyst price target of around $126.25 before the results were announced.
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