WMT - Costco Gobbles Discretionary Market Share Thanks To Its Value Proposition | Benzinga
Last week, Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ: COST) reported its fiscal third quarter earnings that surpassed estimates. Last Thursday, Costco management emphasized its membership pricing, digital sales growth, along with its recently expanded partnership with Uber Technologies Inc (NYSE: UBER).
Fiscal Third Quarter Highlights
For the quarter ended on May 12, Costco recorded revenue grew 9% YoY to $58.52 billion, earning $3.78 per share. Excluding gasoline and foreign exchange impact, comparable sales, rose 6.5%. E-commerce sales surged 20.7%powered by gold and silver bullion, gift cards and appliances. Membership fees brought about $1.23 billion to the revenue table, rising 7.6% YoY.
Lowering Prices Bodes Well For Costco
Like its peers, Target (NYSE: TGT), Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ: WBA) and Walmart (NYSE: WMT) Costco has lowered prices over the quarter to boost discretionary spending. Walgreens Boots Alliance even slashed its full-year earnings outlook in response to a challenging retail environment in the US. Target is also expecting another slow year after reporting its 2023 sales fell for the first time since 2016. Over the past few weeks, even the mighty e-commerce titan Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) joined Walmart and Target in slashing prices on thousands of household goods. Back in May, Target announced it is slashing prices on 5,000 items, after already lowering prices on 1,500 items in an effort to boost consumer spending. As the lower ...