Consumer Discretionary

Costco Wholesale (COST) reported “solid” earnings per share growth in fiscal Q1 despite below-average comparable sales, but its special dividend could potentially impact fiscal year 2024 EPS, Morgan Stanley said in a note to clients Friday. Costco’s earnings before interest and taxes still grew 7.6%, while its EPS jumped over 12% in the quarter, roughly in line with pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels. US comparable sales of 2.6% and total comparable sales of 3.9%, excluding gasoline, were below the average of 5% from 2016 to 2019, according to the note. Morgan Stanley analysts said that fiscal 2024 comparable sales and EBIT estimates “look safe” and they don’t expect analysts’ forecasts of 4.3% in comparable sales growth and $8.9 billion in EBIT to “significantly change.” The retailer’s special dividend of $15 per share, which is the highest special dividend set in more than a decade, is expected to reduce the company’s cash balance […]

Costco Wholesale (COST) reported fiscal Q1 earnings Thursday of $3.58 per diluted share, up from $3.07 a year earlier. Analysts surveyed by Capital IQ expected $3.42. Revenue for the quarter ended Nov. 26 was $57.80 billion, up from $54.44 billion a year earlier. Analysts surveyed by Capital IQ expected $57.79 billion. The company said its board set a special dividend of $15 per share, payable Jan. 12 to shareholders of record on Dec. 28.

The following is a summary of the Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript: Financial Performance: Costco’s reported net income for Q1 2024 increased to $1.589 billion or $3.58 per share. The company saw a 6.1% increase in net sales to $56.72 billion from last year’s $53.44 billion. There was a tax benefit of $44 million or $0.10 a share included in this year’s results related to stock-based compensation. Membership fee income for the quarter increased by 8.2% to $1.082 billion. Renewal rates for the memberships have shown a positive trend with U.S. and Canada renewal rate standing at 92.8% and the worldwide rate at 90.5%. For this quarter, the net income was up by 16.5% year-over-year. Business Progress: For FY ’24, plans are underway to open 33 new locations, indicating a significant increase from the 23 opened in FY ’23. E-commerce sales presented an area of growth,

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Analyst Ratings Date Upside/Downside Analyst Firm Price Target Change Rating Change Previous / Current Rating 12/15/2023 8.93% Telsey Advisory Group $625 → $700 Maintains Outperform 12/13/2023 5.04% Oppenheimer $630 → $675 Maintains Outperform 12/12/2023 1.15% Evercore ISI Group $640 → $650 Maintains Outperform 11/30/2023 -4.3% Stifel $595 → $615 Maintains Buy 11/30/2023 -3.68% Truist Securities → $619 Reiterates Buy → Buy 11/30/2023 -2.74% Telsey Advisory Group $600 → $625 Maintains Outperform 11/27/2023 -6.64% Telsey Advisory Group → $600 Reiterates Outperform → Outperform 11/13/2023 -7.41% Stifel $575 → $595 Maintains Buy 11/02/2023 -5.86% JP Morgan $620 → $605 Maintains Overweight 11/02/2023 -6.64% Telsey Advisory Group → $600 Reiterates Outperform → Outperform 10/30/2023 -6.64% Telsey Advisory Group → $600 Reiterates Outperform → Outperform 10/19/2023 -6.64% Telsey Advisory Group → $600 Reiterates Outperform → Outperform 10/05/2023 -3.68% Truist Securities → $619 Reiterates Buy → Buy 10/05/2023 -3.52% JP Morgan $571

CFRA, an independent research provider, has provided MT Newswires with the following research alert. Analysts at CFRA have summarized their opinion as follows: We lift our 12-month target to $659 from $577, 42x our FY 24 (Aug.) EPS of $15.68 (up from $15.60; FY 25 up to $17.07 from $16.97) vs. 36x five-year average forward P/E. F1Q EPS of $3.58 (+17%) beat by $0.15 on comp sales growth (ex-fuel and FX) of 3.9% (+4.7% traffic; -1.6% average transaction amount). Membership growth continued as COST ended F1Q with 72.0M paid households (+7.6% Y/Y) and 33.2M Executive members (+0.9M Q/Q). The renewal rate was 92.8% in the U.S. and Canada, up 10 bps Q/Q. Inflation averaged 1%-2% in the quarter but trended toward 0%-1% as the quarter ended. In our view, these are the ingredients needed to support a membership fee hike, which is past due based on historic trends (usually every