ISSAQUAH, Wash. (AP) -- Costco Wholesale Corp.'s revenue at stores open at least a year rose 7 percent in December, narrowly missing Wall Street's expectations.
Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters predicted that the figure would climb 7.6 percent. It is a key indicator of a retailer's health because it excludes results from stores recently opened or closed.
In the U.S, revenue at stores open at least a year increased 7 percent, while the metric rose 9 percent abroad.
Wholesale club operator Costco said Thursday that higher gas prices helped its results, while foreign exchange rates hurt its performance slightly during the month.
Taking out increased gasoline prices and currency exchange, revenue at stores open at least a year climbed 6 percent in the U.S. and 11 percent overseas.
Total revenue for the five weeks ended Jan. 1 increased 9 percent to $10.05 billion.
For the year-to-date, revenue at stores open at least a year increased 9 percent. The figure was up by the same amount in the U.S. during the period and climbed 10 percent internationally.
Excluding higher gas prices and foreign currencies, the figure rose 7 percent.
Last month Costco reported that its fiscal first-quarter profit rose 2.6 percent, despite significantly stronger revenue gains, as it kept prices low on gas, food and other products to gain market share at a sacrifice to its profit margins.
Costco, based in Issaquah, Wash., runs 598 warehouses, including 433 in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, 82 in Canada, 32 in Mexico, 22 in the U.K., 11 in Japan, eight in Taiwan, seven in Korea and three in Australia.
4 comments