COST Earnings: Costco’s Financial Results Narrowly Beat Wall Street Targets

Grocery retailer Costco Wholesale (COST) has reported quarterly financial results that narrowly topped Wall Street forecasts.

The Seattle-based warehouse club reported earnings per share (EPS) of $4.28, which was ahead of the $4.24 expected among analysts. Revenue in the period totaled $63.21 billion, which was slightly ahead of consensus forecasts of $63.19 billion. The company’s sales were up 8% from a year earlier.

Costco’s net income for the three months ended May 11 rose to $1.90 billion, up from $1.68 billion a year earlier. Total comparable sales were up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. On an annual basis, sales rose 6.6% in Costco’s home market of the U.S., gained 2.9% in Canada, and increased 3.2% in other International markets.

Costco Wholesale’s net income. Source: Main Street Data

Membership Fees

Costco said its membership fees came in at $1.24 billion, up 11% from $1.12 billion the previous quarter. Costco raised the price of its annual store membership by $5 in September 2024, the company’s first membership price increase since 2017.

Costco added that it currently operates 905 warehouse clubs worldwide, including 624 in the U.S. The company ended the quarter with $13.84 billion of cash on hand and cash equivalents. COST stock has gained 10% so far this year.

Is COST Stock a Buy?

The stock of Costco has a consensus Moderate Buy rating among 24 Wall Street analysts. That rating is based on 17 Buy and seven Hold recommendations assigned in the last three months. The average COST price target of $1,077.00 implies 6.58% upside from current levels. These ratings are likely to change after Costco’s financial results.

Read more analyst ratings on COST stock