Costco Wholesale (COST) – Get Free Report shares edged lower in pre-market trading ahead of the bulk discount retailer’s fourth quarter earnings slated for after the closing bell.
Analysts expect Costco to post a bottom line of $4.79 per share, a 14% increase from the same period last year, with revenues rising just over 8% to $77.9 billion for the three months ending in June, the group’s fiscal fourth quarter.
The summertime surge in gas prices, which lifted the average cost of a gallon to around $3.96 last month, according to Energy Department data, is likely to boost foot traffic at Costco as members take advantage of discount gas prices .
The group’s August sales update showed revenues rising 5% from last year to around $18.42 billion, but also noted weakened comparable sales figures that indicated softness in the group’s online offering, where sales fell 2.5%.
Costco said in late May that weaker spending on big-ticket items held back sale-store sales for the three months ending on May 7, as overall net revenues rose 1.9% from last year to $52.6 billion, missing Street forecasts.
‘We’re not only comparing against this “recession” or concerns about big-ticket items but comparing against uber strength over the last two years prior to that,” CFO Richard Galanti told investors on May 25. “So I think we’ll come out of this fine. We’re pretty good at figuring out new items and new things to do.”
Costco shares were marked 0.1% lower in pre-market trading to indicate an opening bell price of $558.15 each, a move that would trim the stock’s six-month gain to around 13.4%.
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