Costco on Thursday beat Wall Street’s quarterly earnings and sales estimates, as e-commerce sales jumped and shoppers bought jewelry, luggage and furniture.
On the membership-based warehouse club’s earnings call, Chief Financial Officer Gary Millerchip said customers have remained selective with purchases. But, he added, they have shown they’re willing to spend, especially as inflation comes down, if they see a “combination of newness of items, quality and value.”
He said Costco’s strong sales of meat and produce indicate that shoppers are dining out less and cooking at home more.
And, he added, the retailer has seen a “bifurcation with the member,” with some who are still spending on “high-quality premium cuts” and others with “a gravitation towards those lower price per pound items across categories like poultry and cuts of beef and pork as well.”
Here is how the warehouse club did for the fiscal first quarter compared to what Wall Street expected, according to a survey of analysts by LSEG:
- Earnings per share: $4.04 vs. $3.79 expected
- Revenue: $62.15 billion vs. $62.08 billion expected
In the three-month period that ended Nov. 24, Costco’s net income rose to $1.80 billion, or $4.04 per share, from $1.59 billion, or $3.58 per share in the year-ago period. Revenue increased from $57.80 billion in the year-ago period.
Costco has benefited from its reputation for selling bulk items at better value, as U.S. households feel the cumulative effect of higher food and housing prices. The membership-based club also hiked its annual membership fee for the first time in about seven years. The quarterly results are the first Costco has reported since that fee increase took effect in September.
Costco’s membership fee revenue came in at $1.17 billion, compared to the $1.16 billion Wall Street had expected. It jumped by almost 8% year over year, excluding the impact of foreign exchange rates.
But on the company’s earnings call, Millerchip said the membership fee hike didn’t have much of an effect yet because of deferred accounting. It represented less than 1% of fee growth in the quarter, he said.
Comparable sales for the company increased 5.2% year over year. In the U.S., comparable sales rose 5.2% as well.
Customers visited Costco’s stores and website more during the quarter. Traffic rose 5.1% globally and 4.9% in the U.S. The company’s average ticket was up 0.1% worldwide and 0.3% in the U.S., including the negative impact of gas deflation and foreign exchange rates. If adjusted to exclude those, average ticket would have risen 2% worldwide and 2.3% in the U.S.
Gold and jewelry, gift cards, home furnishings, sporting goods, health and beauty aids, luggage kiosk and hardware were all up double digits year over year, Millerchip said.
In Costco’s fresh category, which includes items like produce, sales grew by high single-digits in the quarter, Millerchip said. Sales of meat were up by double-digits, as some members continued to purchase pricier premium cuts and other bought low-cost options, he said.
Costco’s private label brand, Kirkland Signature, is growing faster than the total business, Millerchip said. And, he added, Costco has been able to cut prices on some items, such as Kirkland’s organic peanut butter, its chicken stock and its Sauvignon Blanc.
He said the club’s food courts, optical departments and travel services, such as rental car and cruise bookings, also did well in the quarter, but gas sales declined by low double digits as prices per gallon fell.
E-commerce sales rose 13% in the quarter compared with the year-ago period. The company is gaining market share by shipping big and bulky items, CEO Ron Vachris said on the company’s earnings call, and it hit nearly 1 million deliveries in the quarter, which was a new record.
Online traffic, conversions and average order value all increased year over year, Millerchip said.
Membership renewal rates were 90.4% worldwide, down one tenth of a percent, Millerchip said on the company’s call. He said renewal rates are down slightly as it attracts more new members through digital channels. He said those signups tend to renew at a slightly lower rate.
It ended the quarter with 77.4 million paid household members, an approximately 8% year over year increase, or 138.8 million cardholders.
Costco also hit new records in its U.S. bakery division by selling 4.2 million pies in the three days prior to Thanksgiving and selling 274,000 whole pizzas in its food courts across the country on Halloween, Vachris said on the call.
Costco opened seven new clubs in the quarter and plans to open 29 during the fiscal year, including three relocations, Vachris said. Ten of those clubs will be outside of the U.S. The company has a total of nearly 900 clubs, with 617 in the U.S. and Puerto Rico.
As of Thursday’s close, shares of Costco are up nearly 50% so far this year, surpassing the 27% gains of the S&P 500 during the same period. Shares closed at $988.39 on Thursday.
