Free Annual Reports
Costco Wholesale First Quarter Earnings
Tickers in this Article »
COST
Costco Wholesale (Nasdaq:COST) announced its results for the most recent quarter on December 12, 2012. Costco Wholesale operates membership warehouses that offer a selection of nationally branded and selected private-label products in categories such as food, appliances, and sporting goods, at low prices.
Investors should care about a company's quarterly earnings because it shows the state of the business over the past 90 days and provides guidance for the following 90 days. SEE: Earnings: Quality Means Everything
The Numbers: Though Costco Wholesale's EPS fell short of estimates, the company's revenues managed to trump predictions. The company reported 95 cents per share versus the $1.29 per share estimate and revenues of $23.71 billion versus the $22.11 billion estimate. EPS rose 30.1% while revenue climbed 9.6% from the same period last year. Costco Wholesale's revenue has grown during each of the past four quarters on a year-over-year basis. The company's net income for the quarter was $416 million. This is 30% higher than the year-ago quarter. Last quarter marked the third in a row of rising net income.
A Look Back: Net income has increased 18.5% year-over-year on average across the last five quarters. The biggest gain came in the most recent quarter, when income climbed 30% from the year-earlier quarter.
Looking Ahead: Next quarter's results are expected to be more favorable for the company. Over the past 60 days, the average estimate for the second quarter has reached 93 cents per share, up from 91 cents. Increasing earnings estimate is a positive sign about the company and it typically leads a increase in the stock price. For the fiscal year, the average estimate has moved up from $3.84 a share to $3.86 over the last 60 days.
Investors should care about a company's quarterly earnings because it shows the state of the business over the past 90 days and provides guidance for the following 90 days. SEE: Earnings: Quality Means Everything
The Numbers: Though Costco Wholesale's EPS fell short of estimates, the company's revenues managed to trump predictions. The company reported 95 cents per share versus the $1.29 per share estimate and revenues of $23.71 billion versus the $22.11 billion estimate. EPS rose 30.1% while revenue climbed 9.6% from the same period last year. Costco Wholesale's revenue has grown during each of the past four quarters on a year-over-year basis. The company's net income for the quarter was $416 million. This is 30% higher than the year-ago quarter. Last quarter marked the third in a row of rising net income.
Looking Ahead: Next quarter's results are expected to be more favorable for the company. Over the past 60 days, the average estimate for the second quarter has reached 93 cents per share, up from 91 cents. Increasing earnings estimate is a positive sign about the company and it typically leads a increase in the stock price. For the fiscal year, the average estimate has moved up from $3.84 a share to $3.86 over the last 60 days.
by
Investopedia Staff
Investopedia.com believes that individuals can excel at managing their financial affairs. As such, we strive to provide free educational content and tools to empower individual investors, including thousands of original and objective articles and tutorials on a wide variety of financial topics.
Free Annual Reports
