Costco’s June Sales Rose 8% From A Year Ago

Costco Wholesale has reported that its net sales rose 8% year-over-year in June to $26.4 billion U.S., up from a 6.8% gain in May. The June sales snap a string of five consecutive months of slowing sales growth at the warehouse club.Same-store sales at Costco, which measure sales growth at stores that have been open for more than a year, grew 5.8% in June from a year ago, compared with a 4.3% advance in May.Stripping out fluctuations in gas prices and foreign exchange rates, same-store sales increased 6.2%, also an improvement from May’s 6% growth.For accounting purposes, Costco’s “month of June” ended July 4, which means that June’s results include Father’s Day, Juneteenth, and the lead-up to the Independence Day holiday. Costco executives said categories that performed strongly in June include candy, meats and produce, basically the ingredients for a summer barbeque.Strong consumer demand from abroad also boosted Costco’s June results. Same-store sales excluding gas and foreign exchange rates rose 7.9% in Canada and 8.2% in the dozen or so other countries where Costco has warehouses. U.S. same-store sales grew 5.5% in June.Costco’s e-commerce business that comprises online sales registered an 11.2% increase.Consumers have continued to flock to Costco since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, lured by the company’s bulk pricing on groceries and other items such as gasoline.COST stock has risen 8% this year to trade at $982.09 U.S. per share.