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Investing.com — Costco Wholesale Corp (NASDAQ:) shares were dipping after the retailer reported sales for June.
Warehouse retailer Costco Wholesale reported June net sales of $22.86 billion, an increase of 0.4% from the same time last year.
The company said that for the 44 weeks ended July 2, it reported net sales of $196.93 billion, an increase of 4.6% from one year ago.
Shares fell 0.8% in pre-open Friday trading.
June comparable sales, excluding the impacts from changes in gasoline prices and foreign exchange, rose 3.0%. It also said U.S. comparable sales growth excluding those impacts was 2.0%, and e-commerce was down 0.4%.
Stifel analysts reiterated a Buy rating and a $545 per share price target on COST stock as June results are “largely consistent with recent trends showing Costco continues to outperform most peers.”
Telsey Advisory Group analysts said the results were better than expected, driven by the 4.2% increase in traffic.
“Costco’s better than anticipated June comp reflects good execution and its value appeal to a cost-conscious consumer. We expect Costco to remain a share gainer, with its value-focused merchandising and high member loyalty (~125MM members). In FY23 and FY24, Costco should continue to generate HSD-LDD EPS growth, driven by a LSD-MSD comp, MSD-HSD membership fee income growth, leverage of customer data, and effective management of merchandising and costs,” they said.
COST shares are up more than 17% so far this year.
Additional reporting by Senad Karaahmetovic
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