Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ: COST) reported a 5.7% year-over-year rise in March same-store sales. Its total sales rose 7.4% year-over-year.
The wholesaler, based out of Issaquah, Wash., said Wednesday net sales of $13.87 billion for March.
For the fiscal year to date, totaling 31 weeks, the company reported net sales of $88.29 billion, an increase of 8.4% from $81.43 billion during the similar period last year.
This year’s five-week March retail month had one extra shopping day versus last year, due to the calendar shift of Easter. This positively impacted total and comparable sales by approximately 1.5%.
Last month, on a separate issue, Costco said its members purchased more than 650,000 vehicles through Costco Auto Program’s participating dealerships and during its Limited-Time Specials with vehicle manufacturers in 2018. Costco Auto Program, managed by Affinity Auto, announced an increase of more than 25% compared to 2017; significantly outpacing total industry sales, which increased 0.6%, according to Automotive News
The largest Limited-Time Special held last year was the Holiday Sales Event with General Motors; yielding equally strong results with a 22% increase above 2017 sales.
Costco currently operates 770 warehouses, including 535 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 100 in Canada, 39 in Mexico, 28 in the United Kingdom, 26 in Japan, 15 in Korea, 13 in Taiwan, 10 in Australia, two in Spain, and one each in Iceland and France. Costco also operates e-commerce sites in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Korea, and Taiwan.
Costco shares fell $3.22, or 1.3%, to $242.39 early Thursday
