Earnings Preview for Costco

Costco Wholesale COST is scheduled to report fiscal third-quarter 2011 results before the opening bell on Wednesday, May 25. Analysts expect the wholesale club operator to announce that earnings came to $0.77 per share. The consensus estimate was $0.75 per share 60 days ago, and per-share earnings came in at $0.66 in the same period of last year. Note that, in recent quarters, the consensus earnings estimate has been within a penny or so per share of posted results. The Company Costco is the largest wholesale club operator in the United States. The company operates more than 575 membership warehouse stores serving some 56 million cardholders. Besides the U.S., the company also has stores in Australia, Canada, Japan, Mexico, Puerto Rico, South Korea, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom. Costco was founded in 1976 and is headquartered in Issaquah, Washington. Competitors include BJ's Wholesale BJ and Walmart's WMT Sam's Club. Revenue During the third quarter, Costco expanded its stock repurchase program and boosted its quarterly dividend. The revenue forecast for that period calls for an increase of 12.9% from the same period of last year to $20.1 billion. And revenue growth is projected to be 11.6% in the current quarter and for the full year. Performance Analysts on average have recommended buying COST for the past 90 days. Shares are trading near the recent 52-week high of $83.95; the share price is about 14% higher than at the beginning of the year. Costco has outperformed the broader markets, as well as competitors BJ's Wholesale and Walmart, year to date.