What's Going On With Costco Stock Thursday?

Costco Wholesale Corp COST shares are moving Thursday after the company reported sales results for September. Multiple analysts raised price targets on the membership-based retailer’s stock following the sales update.

What Happened: Costco reported net sales of $24.62 billion for the retail month of September (the five week-period ended Oct. 6), representing 9% growth on a year-over-year basis. Costco announced it was raising the price of its annual store membership by $5 in July. The membership fee increase went into effect on Sept. 1.

Total comparable sales climbed 6.7% year-over-year. U.S. comps were up 6.5%, comparable sales in Canada were up 5.7% and the Other International category saw 8.5% comparable sales growth. E-commerce comps jumped 22.9% year-over-year. Excluding the impacts from changes in gas prices and foreign exchange, total comparable sales were up 8.9%.

Costco said September sales benefitted by approximately 2% in the U.S. and 1.5% globally due to increased sales in the final week of the month driven by “abnormal consumer activity associated with Hurricane Helene and port strikes.”

Following the sales update, Stifel analyst Mark Astrachan maintained Costco with a Buy rating and raised the price target from $925 to $935. Evercore ISI Group maintained an Outperform rating on Thursday and raised its price target from $985 to $990. Oppenheimer also maintained an Outperform and raised the price target from $955 to $980.

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Costco reported fourth-quarter financial results at the end of September. Total revenue of $79.697 billion missed consensus estimates of $79.973 billion, but earnings per share of $5.29 topped analyst estimates of $5.08. Total comparable sales were up 5.4% in the fourth quarter.

Truist analyst Scot Ciccarelli raised 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.

COST Price Action: Costco shares are up approximately 37% year-to-date. The stock initially traded higher on the news before pulling back and turning negative. Costco shares were down 1.26% at $897.65 at the time of publication, according to Benzinga Pro.

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