Costco Wholesale Corporation posted an increase of 7.3 percent for comparable same store sales in December compared to the corresponding month in 2021. Sales excluding fuel, increased by 6.4 percent in the U.S., 10.9 percent in Canada and 9.1 percent for other international warehouses. For the 18 weeks ending January 1st Costco achieved total revenue of $82.2 billion, up 7.6 percent from the 18 weeks at the end of 2021. In contrast E-commerce sales fell by 3.4 percent confirming a national trend involving a reversion to brick-and-mortar stores and warehouses.
Costco intends opening 27 stores in 2023 including three relocations. The first ever Costco warehouses were opened in New Zealand and Sweden and four additional stores were opened outside North America during the first quarter of fiscal 2023.
Costco operates 847 warehouses with 583 in the U.S., 107 in Canada, 40 in Mexico and the remainder comprising 117 locations in 11 nations in Europe, Asia and Australasia.
On November 20th Costco posted total assets of $66,027 million. Long-term debt and lease obligations attained $11,484 million. Costco had an intraday market capitalization of $214,070 million on January 13th. COST trades with a forward P/E of 33.9 and has ranged over the past fifty-two weeks from $406.51 to $612.27 with a 50-day moving average of $495.04.
Twelve-month trailing operating margin was 3.4 percent and profit margin 2.6 percent. The Company generated a return on assets of 7.9 percent and 30.6 percent on equity.