Piper Jaffray Reiterates Overweight on COST

Piper Jaffray has issued a report reiterating an Overweigh Rating on Costco Wholesale COST. According to the report, "We are maintaining our March comp estimate of +7%-+8% vs. the consensus mean of ~+7%. We are assuming a core comp of ~+4% and combined gas, F/X and cannibalization should provide a tailwind of ~+4%. We note that during March there may have been a slight disruption to sales at the nine warehouse locations in Japan as the result of the March 11 earthquake. However, the company has stated that only one of the locations remains closed." COST has an $84 PT and closed Friday at $74.25 a share.