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Costco misses on Q3 earnings estimates as coronavirus-related costs increase

On Thursday, Costco reported third-quarter results that missed Wall Street expectations, although total comparable sales climbed 7.8%. Myles Udland breaks down the company's quarterly report on The Final Round.

Video transcript

SEANA SMITH: Costco shares under pressure in after hours following its earnings results. Myles has the numbers for us. Myles?

MYLES UDLAND: All right, Costco coming in here a little bit light on the bottom line, beating on the top line. The company reporting earnings per share, $1.82. The Street was looking for $1.92 on an adjusted basis. Revenues, $37.3 billion. That's a little bit better than the $37.05 that the Street was looking for. But comp sales also coming in just a bit shy of estimates.

Total company comp sales during the most recent quarter were up 4.8%, excluding the impact of gas. The Street was looking for comp sales to rise 5.5%. The company incurring $283 million of COVID-related charges, which are higher wages and, of course, increased sanitation in some of its stores. Now, the stock is down 1.5% here in after-hours trading.

But Costco, of course, as we all know, a stock that has held in pretty well amid all of this concern around coronavirus. We saw the lines, right? Out at Costcos back when this all started. So again, the stock up a little bit year to date right around $304 right now, started the year at $290. I think hanging in in this environment is acceptable but the company certainly not blowing away expectations in the most recent quarter.

SEANA SMITH: All right, Myles, thanks so much for that. And again, that was one of the at home plays, one of the retailers that were actually able to feather the-- weather the coronavirus relatively well, relatively speaking. So it'll be interesting once we get more.