Costco January Sales Rise 9.3% as E-Commerce Jumps 34%

Overview

• Costco reported $21.33 billion in January net sales for the four weeks ended February 1, up 9.3% year over year.
• Total comparable sales rose 7.1%, or 6.4% excluding gasoline and foreign exchange, with Canada up 11.4%, the U.S. up 5.8%, and Other International up 9.5%.
• Digitally-enabled comparable sales surged 34.4% in January, more than double December’s reported 18.9% pace.
• The later timing of Lunar and Chinese New Year reduced January results by about 4.0% for Other International and about 0.5% for the total company.
• Shares edged higher in after-hours trading following the update, while Roth MKM’s Bill Kirk maintained a Sell rating and warned the online spike may reflect storm-related stockpiling.