Costco Wholesale Corporation Reports September Sales Results

Costco Wholesale Corporation reported net sales of $19.50 billion for the retail month of September, the five weeks ended October 3, 2021, an increase of 15.8 percent from $16.84 billion last year. Costco currently operates 817 warehouses, including 565 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 105 in Canada, 39 in Mexico, 30 in Japan, 29 in the United Kingdom, 16 in Korea, 14 in Taiwan, 13 in Australia, three in Spain, and one each in Iceland, France, and China. Costco also operates e-commerce sites in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Korea, Taiwan, Japan, and Australia.

Comparisons refer to the 13-week period ended April 29, 2023 versus the 13-week period ended April 30, 2022: *Net sales decreased 3.3% year-over-year, to $3.4 billion, with comparable sales down 4.3%. *Gross margin as a percentage of net sales was 39.0%, an increase of 67 basis points. *Selling, general & administrative (SG&A) expenses decreased 4.2% year-over-year, to $1.2 billion. As a percentage of total revenue, SG&A expenses were 34.7%, a decrease of 13 basis points year-over-year. *Operating income was $98 million compared to $82 million in the prior year. As a percentage of total revenue, operating income was 2.8%, an increase of 55 basis points year-over-year. *Net income was $14 million, or $0.13 per share. This compares to net income of $14 million, or $0.11 per share in the prior year. *Inventory was $3.5 billion, a decrease of 6% year-over-year. *Operating cash flow was a use of ($202) million.

The lack of a breakout print hit did not prevent unit sales in the first half of 2017 from being 3% higher than in the first six months of last year, at outlets that report to NPD BookScan (which captures 80%–85% of print unit sales). Units for the January–June period in 2017 were 310.7 million, up from 302.8 million a year ago. Just as it was in the first six months of 2016, the backlist favorite Oh, the Places You’ll Go! by Dr. Seuss was the most popular title in the first half of this year, selling more than 482,000 copies (up from 458,000 copies in January–June 2016). All four of the major segments did better this year than in the first six months of 2016. Juvenile fiction had the best performance, with unit sales up 5%. In addition to higher sales of Oh, the Places You’ll Go!, the segment benefitted from strong sales of two editions of Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher, which together sold approximately 500,000 print copies. The animal category had the biggest gain among juvenile fiction segments, with sales up 21%. Click Read More below for additional detail.