- Costco beat expectations for its fiscal first-quarter earnings, with net sales growth of 7.5%.
- Comparable sales growth was largely driven by increased traffic.
- The company ended the quarter with nearly 139 million membership cardholders, up 7.2% over last year.
People just can't get enough of Costco — even as membership fees went up.
The wholesale club beat Wall Street's expectations Thursday, posting fiscal first-quarter net sales of $60.99 billion, up 7.5% from the same period last year.
Comparable sales growth of 5.2% was largely driven by increased traffic, as gas price deflation made for nearly flat receipt growth. The company also noted price reductions in some categories, like facial tissue and chicken stock.
Traffic growth was also aided by the addition of nearly 10 million new member cardholders since last year, bringing the count to 138.8 million at the end of the period.
CFO Gary Millerchip told investors on the earnings call that revenue from the recent membership fee increase — the first price hike in 7 years — "doesn't have much impact yet" and that US and Canadian members are renewing at a rate of 92.8%.
This is a developing story…
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