Why Costco Shares Hit A New 52-Week High

Costco Wholesale Corporation COST shares hit a new 52-week high Thursday morning, reaching $363.67. 

The movement came after the warehouse club reported August sales and some full-year sales figures.

What Happened: Costco reported August sales of $13.56 billion, a 15% year-over-year increase. Fourth-quarter sales were a reported $52.3 billion, a 12.7% year-over-year increase.

Costco also gave a first look at full-year sales of $163.2 billion, up 9.2% from the prior fiscal year.

August sales were up 12.5% in the U.S., 14.6% in Canada and 16.1% in other international markets on a year-over-year basis.

The fourth quarter saw sales rise by double digits year-over-year in both the U.S. (11%) and other international (16.1%) segments, while Canada saw a gain of 9.1%.

Full-year comparables year over year were up 8.1% for the U.S., 5% higher for Canada, and positive 8.9% for other international.

E-commerce sales were up 101.9% year-over-year in August, up 90.6% in the fourth quarter and 49.5% for the full fiscal year.

Oppenheimer Sizes Up Costco: Oppenheimer analyst Rupesh Parikh maintained an Outperform rating on Costco shares and raised the price target from $380 to $400.

“We look very favorably upon another robust monthly sales delivery from COST,” Parikh said in a Wednesday note. 

“We continue to see a strong case for outperformance here and the potential for a special dividend in 2021.” 

E-Commerce Strength: Known for its large warehouse size stores, Costco has made an impressive shift to e-commerce growth. The 101.9% increase in August was impressive when compared to the 76.1% and 86.7% year over year increases seen in July and June respectively. Back in May, Costco reported a 108.1% increase for e-commerce sales year over year.

What’s Next: Costco will report fourth-quarter and full fiscal year earnings Sept. 24. The stock was down 3.08% at $347.79 at last check Thursday.