Shares of Costco Wholesale Corp. dropped 2% in the extended session Thursday after the retail giant’s holiday sales missed the mark even though an earlier-than-usual Lunar New Year boosted February revenue. Costco
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said it earned $1.47 billion, or $3.30 a share, in the fiscal second quarter, compared with $1.30 billion, or $2.92 a share, in the year-ago quarter.
Total sales rose to $55.3 billion, from $51.9 billion a year ago. FactSet consensus called for earnings of $3.21 a share on sales of $55.6 billion. Costco also reported February net sales of $17.06 billion, a 4.7% rise from $16.29 billion in February of last year. Late January’s Lunar New Year holiday was about 10 days earlier than usual this year, Costco said, helping boost total sales by about 0.3% and international sales excluding Canada by about 2%. Costco stock has lost 8% in the past 12 months, compared with losses of around 10% for the S&P 500 index.
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