Costco Wholesale July Comps Flat, But Sales Up 1%

(RTTNews) - Membership warehouses operator Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST) on Wednesday reported that net sales for the month of July increased 1 percent from last year.

However, comparable store sales for the month was flat, while it grew 7 percent after excluding the negative impacts from gasoline price deflation and foreign exchange.

The Issaquah, Washington-based company reported net sales of $8.64 billion for the four weeks ended August 2 2015, up 1 percent from $8.55 billion in the same month last year.

Total company comparable sales for the month of July was flat, reflecting a 3 percent increase in the U.S. comparable sales and 10 percent decrease in international comparable sales.

Excluding the negative impacts from gasoline price deflation and foreign exchange, total company comparable sales for the month rose 7 percent, with 6 percent growth in the U.S. and 7 percent increase in the International business.

The company also reported net sales of $104.95 billion for the forty-eight weeks ended August 2, 2015, up 3 percent from $101.43 billion in the same period last year.

Total company comparable sales for the period was up 1 percent, with 3 percent growth in the U.S., while International comparable sales declined 4 percent.

Excluding the negative impacts from gasoline price deflation and foreign exchange, total company comparable sales for the period grew 7 percent, with 7 percent growth both in the U.S. and outside the U.S.

Costco currently operates 680 warehouses, including 480 in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, 89 in Canada, 36 in Mexico, 26 in the U.K., 20 in Japan, 11 in Korea, 10 in Taiwan, seven in Australia and one in Spain.

The company said it plans to open up to an additional 6 new warehouses prior to the end of its fiscal year on August 30, 2015.

COST closed Wednesday's regular trading session at $146.89, up $2.05 or 1.42 percent on a volume of 1.69 million shares.