Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ: COST) reported first-quarter fiscal 2015 results before markets opened Wednesday. The big-box club store posted quarterly diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $1.12 on revenue of $26.28 billion. In the same period a year ago, Costco reported EPS of $0.96 on revenue of $24.47 billion. First-quarter results also compare to the Thomson Reuters consensus estimates for EPS of $1.09 and $26.92 billion in revenue.

Same-store sales rose 6% in the United States during the first quarter, by just 1% in the rest of the world, and by a combined 5% including sales of gasoline. Excluding gasoline sales and currency translation effects, U.S. same-store sales rose 7%, international sales rose 7% and combined sales rose 7%. An additional benefit to Costco of lower gasoline costs is that customers who fill up before shopping have that much more to spend in the store.

Membership fee revenue rose from $549 million to $582 million year-over-year, and operating income rose by $102 million from $668 million to $770 million.

The company did not publish any guidance, but consensus estimates for the company’s second quarter call for EPS of $1.18 on revenues of $26.92 billion. For the full 2015 fiscal year, EPS is expected to come in at $5.17 on revenues of $120.78 billion.

Costco operates 671 warehouse stores internationally, up seven since the end of the fourth quarter of 2014, of which 469 are located in the United States. At the end of the last quarter the company said it would open eight stores before the end of calendar year 2014, and it looks like it will do so.

Merchandise costs rose by nearly 7% and SG&A expenses were also higher by nearly 8%. To offset the rising costs, membership fee revenue rose 6% to $770 million, more than a third higher than total net income. As long as Costco can keep piling up membership fees at that rate, the company sits in a sweet spot.

Shares were up about 1.3% premarket trading to $144.52, having closed Tuesday night at $143.04 in a 52-week range of $109.50 to $143.49. Shares are up about $18 a piece since the end of the fourth quarter. Thomson Reuters had a consensus analyst price target of around $140.00 before the results were announced.

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