Do Costco December Sales Signal a Return to Highs?

Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ: COST | COST Price Prediction) has reported its sales results for the month of December. This stock has been a big winner over the course of the pandemic, as many consumers have been looking to get their supplies here.

Note that Costco has outperformed the broad markets, with its stock up about 30% over the past 52 weeks. The stock is up closer to 20% over the past six months.

In terms of its results, Costco reported net sales of $19.14 billion for the retail month of December, an increase of 12.3% from the same month last year, which had $17.04 billion.

For the 18 weeks ended January 3, 2021, the company posted net sales of $65.47 billion, an increase of 14.9% from $56.99 billion in the same period last year.

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Comparable sales for the entire company came in at 10.7% for December and 13.3% for the 18-week period. Comparable sales were 9.6% and 12.2% in the United States, 8.0% and 13.7% in Canada and 19.4% and 18.9% in other international markets, for the respective time periods.

E-commerce comparable sales totaled 62.5% for the month of December and 75.2% for the 18-week period ended on January 3.

Costco currently operates 803 warehouses, including 558 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 102 in Canada, 39 in Mexico, 29 in the United Kingdom, 27 in Japan, 16 in Korea, 14 in Taiwan, 12 in Australia and a few more across the international markets.

Costco stock traded down fractionally on Thursday, at $36.50 in a 52-week range of $271.28 to $393.15. The consensus price target is $400.37.

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