2023-12-14 17:38:40 ET
Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ: COST) is trending up in extended hours after reporting solid results for its first financial quarter.
Costco authorises a special dividend
Investors are cheering the announcement of a special dividend as well.
On Thursday, Costco said its board has authorised 15 cents per share of special dividend. Simeon Gutman – a Morgan Stanley analyst recently told CNBC :
They’re doing phenomenal. Their traffic, their sales, they haven’t slowed. They’re part of the game.
Note that the press release today did not reveal any plans of an increase in membership-fee that an executive had recently said was coming. Shares of the retailer are up roughly 40% year-to-date.
Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/embed/IpQmDQPTZFw?feature=oembedCostco Wholesale to get a new CEO
Ron Vachris – who has been with Costco as its President so far is slated to take over as its Chief Executive on January 1 st .
The earnings report revealed a 6.3% increase in eCommerce sales of the Nasdaq-listed firm in Q1. According to Morgan Stanley’s Gutman:
Something to watch will be new CEO Ron Vachris and how aggressive he gets with eCommerce. Costco is not growing fast enough within this but I think we’ll see their posture change online.
Costco's new CEO, Ron Vachris, starts his job on Jan 1.
— Jacob (@JacobJaber) December 9, 2023
He has worked at Costco for more than four decades, beginning as a forklift driver.
I love this story and admire Costco's approach to employee development.
Wall Street currently has a consensus “overweight” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation.
Costco Q1 earnings snapshot
- Earned $1.59 billion versus the year-ago $1.36 billion
- Per-share earnings also climbed from $3.07 to $3.58
- Adjusted EPS printed at $3.48 as per the press release
- Revenue jumped 6.1% year-over-year to $57.80 billion
- Consensus was $3.41 a share on $57.79 billion revenue
The Issaquah-headquartered firm noted a 3.8% annualised growth in its same-store sales in Q1 – in line with expectations. Also today, famed investor Jim Cramer dubbed Costco stock a “best in class” and said “strap yourself to the mast and pay no attention”.
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