Costco Wholesale
just got a strong start to its first fiscal quarter.
The company saw its same-store sales rise by 4.5% in September compared to a year earlier, accelerating from August’s 3.4% growth, Costco announced Wednesday. E-commerce sales rose by 3.7%.
Higher gas prices helped drive up Costco’s (ticker: COST) same-store sales by about 0.5% this month, said Josh Dahmen, assistant vice president of financial planning and investor relations.
The average price per gallon worldwide was up 3.5% compared to the same period last year. Indeed, stripping away changes in gasoline prices and foreign-exchange fluctuations, same-store sales rose 3.7%, slightly lower than the 4.1% increase Costco experienced in August.
Net sales were $22.75 billion in September, an increase of 6% from last year. In August, they rose by 5%. Comparable traffic was up 4.9% worldwide and 4.5% in the U.S., Dahmen said.
Food and sundries were the best selling categories in September, while sales for home furnishings, sporting goods, and hardware were weak, he added. This is in line with broader industry trends, which have seen consumers prioritize spending on necessities while curbing discretionary spending.
Still, the U.S. was Costco’s weakest market again, with same-store sales up 3.2% compared to Canada’s 6.7% gain and international markets up 10%.
Shares of Costco dipped 0.1% to $571.01 in after-hours trading Wednesday, after they closed up 1.2% in the regular session. The stock has gained 25% this year, while the
S&P 500
has climbed 11%.
Write to Sabrina Escobar at [email protected]
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