Costco Wholesale Corporation Reports December Sales Results

*Net sales decreased 5.3% year-over-year, to $3.2 billion, with comparable sales down 4.4% *Gross margin as a percentage of net sales was 39.5%, an increase of 48 basis points. *Selling, general & administrative (SG&A) expenses decreased 0.8% year-over-year, to $1.2 billion. As a percentage of total revenue, SG&A expenses were 36.3%, an increase of 166 basis points year-over-year. *Operating income was $43 million compared to $98 million in the prior year. As a percentage of total revenue, operating income was 1.3%, a decrease of 148 basis points year-over-year. *Net loss was $27 million, or ($0.24) per diluted share. This compares to net income of $14 million, or $0.13 per diluted share in the prior year. *Inventory was $3. 1 billion, a decrease of 13% year-over-year. *Operating cash flow was a use of $7 million as compared to a use of $202 million in the prior year.

Unit sales of print books rose 6.4% in the week ended June 26, 2021, over the comparable week in 2020, at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. Adult fiction sales increased 28.1%, and the gains were achieved without any new releases making a splash. The President’s Daughter by James Patterson and Bill Clinton remained #1 on the category list, selling more than 30,000 copies. Two books released early this spring had good weeks: People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry sold more than 21,000 copies, good enough for fourth place on the adult fiction list, and Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid was fifth, selling more than 18,000 copies. YA fiction sales jumped 49.6% over the week ended June 27, 2020, as books propelled by exposure on #BookTok continued to do well. Two such books, They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera and We Were Liars by E. Lockhart, finished first and second on this week’s category list, selling more than 17,000 copies and nearly 9,000 copies, respectively. The juvenile fiction category’s 11.2% sales increase was due in part to a new book: Alice Schertle’s Time for School, Little Blue Truck was #1 in the category, selling just over 24,000 copies.

The United States Postal Service reported new delivery performance metrics for the ninth week of the fiscal fourth quarter showing the average time for the Postal Service to deliver a mailpiece or package across the postal network was consistent at just 2.4 days. As the Postal Service heads into the busy fall mailing season, service performance remains strong and steady across all mail categories. FY2022 fourth quarter service performance scores covering July 1 through Sept. 2 included: *First-Class Mail: 93.2 percent of First-Class Mail delivered on time against the USPS service standard, consistent with performance from the fiscal third quarter. *Marketing Mail: 94.6 percent of Marketing Mail delivered on time against the USPS service standard, consistent with performance from the fiscal third quarter. *Periodicals: 87.0 percent of Periodicals delivered on time against the USPS service standard, consistent with performance from the fiscal third quarter.