Costco Remains Flat on Mixed Earnings

Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ: COST) released fiscal first-quarter earnings report after markets closed on Wednesday. The company posted $1.24 in earnings per share (EPS) and $28.1 billion in revenue. The consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters called for $1.19 in EPS and $28.3 billion in revenue. The same period of last year reportedly had EPS of $1.09 and $27.22 billion in revenue.

Comparable sales for the first quarter rose only 1%. This consisted of U.S. comparable sales rising 1%, Canadian comparable sales increasing 4%, and Other international comparable sales remaining flat.

Excluding the impact of gas prices and foreign exchange, Comparable sales growth totaled 2%. The breakdown for this was: 1% in U.S. comparable sales, 5% in Canadian comparable sales, and 3% in other international sales.

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Costco currently operates 723 warehouses, including 506 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 94 in Canada, 36 in Mexico, 28 in the United Kingdom, 25 in Japan, 12 in Korea, 12 in Taiwan, eight in Australia and two in Spain. Costco also operates electronic commerce web sites in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Korea and Taiwan.

On the books, cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments totaled $6.1 billion at the end of the quarter, versus $4.7 billion at the end of the previous fiscal year.

Shares of Costco were closed Wednesday at $153.85, with a consensus analyst price target of $169.08 and a 52-week trading range of $138.57 to $169.59. Following the release, the stock was relatively flat in the after-hours trading session.

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