Costco (NASDAQ:COST) shares dropped in Thursday trading after the retailer reported that same-store sales fell 1.1% in March, hurt by a decline in online spending and lower gas prices.
Declines were see in both of its major markets, with U.S. same-store sales slipping 1.5% in the five weeks ended April 2, from the same period a year ago. In Canada, the closely watched metric fell 2.4%. The retailer’s international markets outside Canada fared better, posting a year-over-year increase of 2%.
But e-commerce sales took a large hit, dropping 12.7% from March 2022.
Sales also were hurt by declining gasoline prices and foreign exchange. Excluding the impact from those two variables, comparable-store sales rose 2.6% across all markets. On that basis, U.S. same-store sales rose 0.9%, Canadian sales climbed 7.4%, and other international markets added 7.6% versus the prior year.
COST reported net sales of $21.71B for the retail month of March, up 0.5% from $21.61B a year ago. Comparable sales fell 1.1%, with U.S. comparable sales slipping 1.5%, and Canadian comparable sales declining 2.4%. International comparable sales rose 2%. Moreover, e-commerce comparable sales was down 12.7%.
Comparable sales excluding the impacts from changes in gasoline prices and foreign exchange rose 2.6%, consisting of U.S. +0.9%, Canada +7.4% and International +7.6%. E-commerce comparable sales were -11.6%.
COST slumped $19.05, or 3.8%, to $478,08.
