Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) reported weaker-than-expected results for its third quarter. The company’s e-commerce sales jumped 64.5% during the quarter.
The Issaquah, Washington-based wholesaler released its results Thursday. Net sales for the quarter increased 7.3% to $36.45 billion from $33.96 billion last year.
Reported net income for the third quarter was $838 million, or $1.89 per share, which was negatively impacted by $283 million pretax, or 47 cents per diluted share, from incremental wage and sanitation costs related to COVID-19. Last year's reported third quarter net income was $906 million, or $2.05 per diluted share, which included the benefit of a non-recurring tax item of $73 million, or 16 cents per share.
Said one analyst, "The culprit of the soft print was COVID related costs of $0.47 per share, currency pressure, and lost sales from the closing of some departments, which offset the stock up benefit in consumables and strong core gross margin performance.
“We also note that most likely expected better member growth given the environment. In the end, it was a messy print with a lot of moving parts."
Costco currently operates 787 warehouses, including 547 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 100 in Canada, 39 in Mexico, 29 in the United Kingdom, 26 in Japan, 16 in Korea, 13 in Taiwan, 12 in Australia, two in Spain, and one each in Iceland, France, and China. Costco also operates e-commerce sites in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Korea, Taiwan, Japan, and Australia.
COST shares fell $6.58, or 2.1%, to $302.98 early Friday morning.
