
NASDAQ:COST
Excellent business. One of the top ten positions in portfolio. Stock price very high. Consumer discretionary spending down, but company offers compelling value. Many shoppers shifting spending trends to Costco with rising interest rates. Business has very strong business model. Would recommend holding for the long term.
Shares ran up too far. Their business plan is simple: likely open 30 stores a year given insane demand. They just opened one in Shenzen, China. Are only 870 Costco stores vs. 10,000 Walmarts, so there's room to grow. PE isn't cheap, but 10 years from now you will be happy owning this.
EPS of $3.92 beat estimates of $3.62; revenue of $58.44B missed estimates by 1%. Costco's same-store sales growth remains solid as consumers continue to appreciate value. In-store traffic is the main driver, outpacing gains in average transaction size, a trend likely to persist in fiscal 3Q. Strength in food and sundries is a bright spot, though discretionary spending on some big-ticket items is slowly improving. This is helping drive e-commerce revenue gains, which skew to higher-priced items. Improvements to the mobile app and better advertising campaigns are also aiding digital-sales growth. Inflation is moderating in some categories, letting the company lower prices and reinforce its value proposition, helping to drive robust membership-renewal rates. Merchandise gross margin may slightly expand in 3Q on lower supply-chain related costs. The stock dropped on concern on lower margins, and lack of near-term catalysts, but a planned membership price hike (being considered) may change this. But nothing in the release gives us any real concern, though the stock does remain premium priced.
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Great business model. Wide moat. Lots of potential in foreign markets. Could come back to the $600 level. Everyone should own some at some point. Yield is 0.6%.
(Analysts’ price target is $787.13)