Costco Wholesale Corp.’s share price up, posts third-quarter profit, which trails analysts’ forecasts despite increasing sales

Costco Wholesale Corp., the biggest US warehouse-club chain announced its results for the third quarter of the current financial year. The company, which sells a variety of products, including groceries and other items in bulk, made an official statement, posting its profit for the three months ended May 11 that missed analysts expectations despite the fact that comparable sales increased by 6%.

According to Costco Wholesale Corp.s statement, the companys net income for the third quarter, which ended May 11th, increased by 3.1% from 459 million dollars, which equals to 1.04 dollars per share to 473 million dollars, which amounts to 1.07 dollars per share. This result is little lower than the one of 1.10 dollars a share, which analysts initially projected.

Recently, the sales of the U.S.-based company have reached slower growth despite the fact that most customers are interested in purchases that would save them money in the circumstances of a mild recovery of the US economy. The company announced that its total net sales were boosted by 7.1% to 25.8 billion dollars, which trails the analysts forecasts that amounted to 25.9 billion dollars. Costcos revenue generated by membership fees rose by 5.6% and reached 561 million dollars.

The sales of Costco Whole Corp. were affected by rising merchandise expenses, which according to the companys statement increased by about 7% and reached 22.55 billion dollars in the third financial quarter. The general, administrative and selling costs of Costco over the same period of time jumped by about 8%.

Costco is not the only U.S retailer, which posts a relatively slow performance in their latest quarters. Other companies were also affected by the negative impact of harsh winter conditions and consumer confidence, which went up and down over the last three months.

Costco Wholesale Corp. was 0.32% up to close at 114.24 dollars per share yesterday, marking a one-year change of -0.51%. According to the information published on CNN Money, the 21 analysts offering 12-month price forecasts for Costco Wholesale Corp. have a median target of 125.00, with a high estimate of 132.00 and a low estimate of 90.00. The median estimate represents a +9.42% increase from the last price of 114.24.