Costco shares close lower on Thursday, a new China store to be established in the city of Suzhou

According to a report by Reuters, citing China’s state media, Costco Wholesale Corp (COST) intends to establish a new store in the eastern Chinese city of Suzhou.

Costco shares closed lower for the fifth time in the past ten trading sessions on NASDAQ on Thursday. It has also been the steepest single-session loss since March 31st. The stock went down 1.95% ($5.96) to $300.01, after touching an intraday low at $297.59, or a price level not seen since April 6th ($289.70).

Shares of Costco Wholesale Corp have risen 2.07% so far in 2020 compared with a 13.65% loss for the benchmark index, S&P 500 (SPX).

In 2019, Costco Wholesale Corp’s stock went up 44.28%, thus, it again outperformed the S&P 500, which registered a 28.88% gain.

On April 9th, Costco’s subsidiary in Suzhou acquired a piece of land in Suzhou New District for over 142.5 million yuan ($20.2 million), the management committee of Suzhou New District said. The site is to be used for the establishment of a warehouse store with a floor area of over 50,000 square meters.

Costco Wholesale Corp founded its subsidiary in the city of Suzhou in January, after investing a total of 1.27 billion yuan. The Suzhou store is to be Costco’s third one in China. The first store was established in Shanghai’s Minhang district last August.

Analyst stock price forecast and recommendation

According to CNN Money, the 26 analysts, offering 12-month forecasts regarding Costco Wholesale Corp’s stock price, have a median target of $330.00, with a high estimate of $360.00 and a low estimate of $235.00. The median estimate represents a 10.00% upside compared to the closing price of $300.01 on April 9th.

The same media also reported that at least 16 out of 31 surveyed investment analysts had rated Costco Wholesale Corp’s stock as “Buy”, while 11 – as “Hold”.