Zinger Key Points
- Costco shares traded lower at the end of last week after the membership-based retailer reported mixed fourth-quarter financial results.
- Several analysts have raised price targets on the stock following the print.
- Get Monthly Picks of Market's Fastest Movers
Costco Wholesale Corp COST stock appears to be bouncing back from soft earnings last week as positive analyst revisions continue to roll in.
What To Know: Costco shares traded lower at the end of last week after the membership-based retailer reported mixed fourth-quarter financial results. Fourth-quarter revenue of $79.697 billion missed the consensus estimate of $79.973 billion, but earnings of $5.29 per share came in ahead of analyst estimates of $5.08 per share.
Total comparable sales in the fourth quarter were up 5.4% as e-commerce sales jumped 18.9%. Membership fees came in at $1.512 billion, up from $1.509 billion in the prior year's quarter. Costco noted that its recently announced membership fee increase went into effect on Sept. 1. The company ended the quarter with $9.906 billion in cash and cash equivalents.
Costco shares dipped on the report, but the stock has started to find its footing as positive analyst updates continue to be released.
TD Cowen analyst Oliver Chen on Monday maintained Costco with a Buy rating and raised the price target from $925 to $975. The upward price target revision follows several other price target increases from Friday ranging from $755 to $1,005.
Analysts at Loop Capital, Stifel, BMO Capital, Telsey and Goldman Sachs maintained Buy or Outperform ratings, while analysts at Truist, Barclays, Wells Fargo, Roth MKM and DA Davidson maintained Neutral or Equal-Weight ratings.
BMO analyst Kelly Bania highlighted strong growth in 2024 compared to the last decade. The analyst expects margin improvements to help drive strong earnings growth over the next five years as recent membership fee increases boost Costco’s income.
Truist analyst Scot Ciccarelli also raised his earnings estimates for fiscal 2025 and 2026 following Costco’s quarterly results.
“Costco’s stacked growth continues to be the strongest/most consistent in our coverage,” the Truist analyst said.
Related Link: Costco’s Strong Q4 Performance Sparks Mixed Analyst Reactions As Stock Slides
COST Price Action: Costco shares are up approximately 35% year-to-date. The stock was up 0.20% at $887.36 at the time of publication Monday, according to Benzinga Pro.
Photo: Mike Mozart from Flickr.
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