Costco beat a Wall Street earnings estimate for its second quarter, but revenues fell short as e-commerce slipped based on softness in big-ticket discretionary items even with overall comparable sales increasing.
Net income for the quarter was $1.47 billion, or $3.30 per diluted share, versus $1.3 billion, or $2.92 per diluted share, in the year-earlier quarter.
A MarketBeat published analyst consensus estimate called for earnings per diluted share of $3.20 and revenues of $55.61 billion.
With the effects of changes in gasoline prices and foreign exchange excluded, Costco’s comparable sales in the United States increased by 5.8%, in Canada by 9.6% and in other international markets by 9.5%. E-commerce was down 8.7% excluding foreign exchange impact because of big-ticket discretionary income product weakness, including in home furnishings, Costco noted in a conference call.
Net sales increased to $54.24 billion as net revenue increased to $55.27 million from $50.94 billion and $51.9 billion, respectively, in the year-previous quarter. Operating income was $1.9 billion versus $1.81 billion in the year-before period.
Costco reported traffic increased by 3.7% and average ticket advanced 1.9% in the U.S. Core business was down six basis points.
