Costco Q1 Results Miss View

(RTTNews) - Membership warehouses operator Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST) Wednesday reported higher profit for the first quarter, with growth in both net sales and membership fees. However, both earnings and revenue missed Wall Street estimates.

Net income attributable to the company increased to $425 million from $416 million in the prior year. Earnings per share rose to $0.96 from $0.95. On average, 24 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $1.02 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Total revenue climbed to $25.017 billion from $23.715 billion in the previous year. Analysts expected revenues of $25.35 billion.

Net sales rose 5 percent to to $24.47 billion from $23.20 billion. Membership fees increased to $549 million from $511 million.

Comparable sales grew 3 percent with a 3 percent growth in the U.S. business and a 1 percent improvement in the International business.

Excluding negative impacts from gasoline price deflation and foreign exchange, comparable sales rose 5 percent. The growth in the U.S. was 4 percent while International improvement was 6 percent.

The company had released its sales data earlier this month.

Costco currently operates 648 warehouses, including 461 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 87 in Canada and 25 in the U.K.

The retailer also operates electronic commerce web sites in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and Mexico.

COST closed down 1.33 percent at $120.04 on Tuesday.