Costco sees strong April earnings ahead of Q3 report

While the effects of an Easter holiday set in March affected its bottom line, Costco Wholesale Corp. is reporting solid April sales figures. Net sales for the month were $19.80 billion for the four weeks ended May 5, representing a 7.1% year-over-year increase.

For the first 35 weeks of the fiscal year, net sales were $166.44 billion, which was an increase of 7% from $155.62 billion last year. Total company comparable sales for the period were 5.6%, and comparable sales for e-commerce were 14.6%. Canadian sales were up by 5.2%.

The company reported that this year’s retail month of April was impacted by the shift in timing of Easter, negatively impacting total and comparable sales by about half a percent.

The fact that Easter was on the last day of March this year gave Costco a bit of a bump, with net sales at $23.48 billion during the month, a 9.4% year-over-year increase. U.S. comp sales were up 7.3%, while comps excluding the impact from changes in gas prices and foreign exchanges were on a similar upward track of 7.4%. E-commerce did well during the five-week period too, increasing 28.3%. 

Costco will report third fiscal quarter earnings on May 30.

This article first appeared in sister publication Progressive Grocer