Costco Wholesale August Comps. Up 4% - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Membership warehouses operator Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST) reported a 4 percent growth in August 2013 comparable sales, with monthly net sales increasing 7% to $7.95 billion from $7.44 billion in the same month last year.

The company said that changes in gasoline prices and foreign exchange rates had negative impacts on comparable sales for the four-week period. Excluding these effects, comparable sales for the month were up 6%.

For the 16-week fourth quarter, net sales were $31.8 billion, an increase of one percent compared to net sales of $31.5 billion in the 17-week fourth quarter of fiscal year 2012. Comparable sales for the fourth-quarter increased 5%.

For the 52-week fiscal year ended September 1, 2013, the company reported net sales of $102.9 billion, an increase of six percent from the $97.1 billion reported in the 53-week fiscal year 2012. Comparable sales for the period were up 6%.

On Wednesday, Fred's Inc. (FRED) reported that Comparable store sales for the month of August of 2013 were approximately flat versus a decline of 2.8% in the same period last year. Total sales for the month were largely unchanged at $140.0 million compared with $139.9 million in August 2012.

Fred's total sales for the year-to-date period ended August 31, 2013 increased 1% to $1.124 billion compared with $1.111 billion for the same period last year. On a comparable store basis, year-to-date sales increased 0.5% versus a decline of 0.8% in the same period last year.