Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) reported its results for the first quarter.  Net income for the discount store rose to $320 million (73 cents per share) vs. $312 million (71 cents per share) in the same quarter a year earlier. This marks a rise of 2.6% from the year earlier quarter. Revenue  rose 13% to $21.18 billion from the year earlier quarter. COST fell short of the mean analyst estimate of 79 cents per share. Analysts were expecting revenue of $21.25 billion.

Competitors to Watch: Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT), Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT), Dollar General Corp. (NYSE:DG), BJ’s Wholesale Club, Inc. (NYSE:BJ), Family Dollar Stores, Inc. (NYSE:FDO), Gordmans Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:GMAN), Dollar Tree, Inc. (NASDAQ:DLTR), Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY), Best Buy (NYSE:BBY), Bed, Bath & Beyond (NASDAQ:BBBY), Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Fred’s, Inc. (NASDAQ:FRED).

Smithfield Foods Inc. (NYSE:SFD) reported its results for the second quarter. Net income for Smithfield Foods Inc. fell to $120.7 million (74 cents per share) vs. $143.7 million (86 cents per share) a year earlier. This is a decline of 16% from the year earlier quarter. Revenue rose 10% to $3.3 billion from the year earlier quarter. SFD reported adjusted net income of 76 cents per share. By that measure, the company beat the mean estimate of 69 cents per share. It beat the average revenue estimate of $3.21 billion.

“Our business is thriving and we are proud to deliver yet another quarter of quality and consistent earnings to our shareholders led by strong results in our Pork segment,” said C. Larry Pope, president and chief executive officer.”Importantly, we were able to grow the top line in our packaged meats business in the second quarter — while exhibiting strong pricing discipline to maintain margins in the normalized range — by leveraging our closely coordinated sales and marketing platform to expand share and distribution. Our Farmland, Smithfield, Armour and Curly’s brands all achieved double-digit retail sales and volume growth in the quarter.”

Competitors to Watch: Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE:HRL), Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE:TSN), ZHONGPIN INC. (NASDAQ:HOGS), Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. (NYSE:PPC), Seaboard Corporation (AMEX:SEB), ConAgra (NYSE:CAG) and Monsanto (NYSE:MON).

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