Ahead Of Costco's Q1 Results - Earnings Preview

(RTTNews) - Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST), an international chain of membership warehouses, is scheduled to report its first-quarter results on Thursday. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters estimate earnings of $1.34 per share on revenue of $31.47 billion. Last year, the company reported earnings of $1.17 per share and revenue of $28.1 billion.

The results are likely to benefit from the positive holiday weekend sales in the U.S.

Most recently, the company said its first quarter comparable sales increased 10.5% and E-commerce sales rose 39%.

Total comparable sales for the month of November 2017 grew 10.8%, with a 10.2% rise in U.S., a 13.8% increase in Canada, and Other International comparable sales rose 11.1%. E-commerce sales were up 39.0%.

Monthly Comparable sales, excluding the impacts from changes in gasoline prices and foreign exchange, were up 7.9%, with a 8.4% rise in U.S., a 6.3% increase in Canada, and 7.2% rise in Other International comparable sales.

Net sales were $11.26 billion for the month of November, the four weeks ended November 26, 2017, an increase of 13.2% from $9.95 billion during the similar period last year.

While this year's twelve-week first quarter included one less sales day than the first quarter last year (due to the shift of the Thanksgiving closure this year), pre-Thanksgiving and Black Friday/holiday weekend sales fell into the first quarter this year compared to the second quarter last year. Combined, these factors produced an estimated net benefit of about 1.5% in the U.S., and slightly less worldwide.

Further, for its Costco Auto Program, a holiday sales event with General Motors, there has been a 55 percent increase in membership from last year.

Cosco had a sales increase of 12.1% in the month of September and a 10.1% increase in the month of October.

In the fourth quarter, the company had reported earnings of $2.08 per share, up 31 cents from last year's fourth quarter earnings per share of $1.77. The consensus estimate was $2.02. Sales during the period had increased 15.8%.