Costco Earnings: Profitable Quarter Accelerates Growth

S&P 500 (NYSE:SPY) component Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) reported its results for the first quarter. Costco Wholesale operates membership warehouses that offer a selection of nationally branded and selected private-label products in categories such as food, appliances, and sporting goods, at low prices.

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Costco Wholesale Corporation Earnings Cheat Sheet

Results: Net income for Costco Wholesale Corporation rose to $416 million (95 cents per share) vs. $320 million (73 cents per share) in the same quarter a year earlier. This marks a rise of 30% from the year-earlier quarter.

Revenue: Rose 9.6% to $23.71 billion from the year-earlier quarter.

Actual vs. Wall St. Expectations: Costco Wholesale Corporation beat the mean analyst estimate of 93 cents per share. It beat the average revenue estimate of $22.11 billion.

Key Stats:

The company has now seen its net income increase for three consecutive quarters. In the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year, net income rose 27.4% and in the third quarter of the last fiscal year, the figure rose 19.1%.

Revenue has risen the past four quarters. Revenue increased 14.3% to $32.22 billion in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year. The figure rose 8.2% in the third quarter of the last fiscal year from the year earlier and climbed 10% in the second quarter of the last fiscal year from the year-ago quarter.

The company has beaten estiamtes for two quarters in a row. In the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year, it topped expectations with net income of $1.39 versus a mean estimate of net income of $1.30 per share.

Looking Forward: Over the last 30 days, analysts have not been optimistic about the company’s next-quarter performance. The average estimate for the second quarter is now $1.06 per share, down from $1.07. The average estimate for the fiscal year is $4.48 per share, a rise from $4.42 ninety days ago.

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(Company fundamentals provided by Xignite Financials. Earnings estimates provided by Zacks)

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