Costco Q2 Earnings Preview: Membership Fees, Tariffs Take Center Stage

Retailer Costco Wholesale Corporation COST could show off higher membership revenue and provide updates on tariffs when the company reports second-quarter financial results after market close Thursday.

Here are the analyst estimates for the quarter and key items for investors to watch.

Earnings Estimates: Analysts expect Costco to report second-quarter revenue of $63.13 billion, up from $58.44 billion in last year's second quarter according to data from Benzinga Pro.

Costco has missed analyst revenue estimates in two straight quarters and six of the last 10 quarters overall.

Analysts expect Costco to report earnings per share of $4.10, up from $3.71 in last year's second quarter. The company missed analyst estimates in the first quarter, while it has beaten estimates in eight of the last 10 quarters.

Read Also: Costco Travel Taps Travelport Tech To Upgrade Booking Experience

Key Items to Watch: Membership fees will likely be a key topic in the results and commentary. The company announced long-awaited membership fee increases that went into effect in September. This will be the second quarter to have the impact of the increases.

Membership revenue of $1.17 billion in the first quarter was up from $1.08 billion in the prior year's first quarter. As more members cycle through the annual fee, the second quarter could see a bigger gain in this category.

Another big topic to watch is the commentary on tariffs by Costco executives.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty around the timing and scope of changes, so it makes it difficult for anyone to predict what the impact will be with confidence,” Costco Chief Financial Officer Gary Millerchip said on the first quarter earnings call.

“In general, of course, tariffs raise costs. That’s not something that we see as a positive in general.”

The company laid out several initiatives it took ahead of President Donald Trump's January inauguration to prepare for the higher prices on some items.

Investment manager Louis Navellier recently named Costco as a company that could succeed during a market downturn.

"Quality names fall the least and are the first to rebound. Look at Costco, it's up 1.3% today, seen as a safe haven for fiercely loyal customers," Navellier previously said.

Here are other recent analyst ratings on Costco and their price targets:

• Telsey: Maintained Outperform rating, $1,100 price target
• Evercore ISI Group: Maintained Outperform rating, raised price target from $1,040 to $1,070
• Stifel: Maintained Buy rating, raised price target from $1,000 to $1,075
• DA Davidson: Maintained Neutral rating, raised price target from $900 to $1,000.

Recent data from Placer.ai shows that visits to Costco stores were up 7.7% year-over-year in January, beating competitor BJ's (+7.4%) and running in line with Sam's Club (+7.7%). Costco also had year-over-year growth of visits in December (+1.3%) and November (+5.1%) according to the report.

Costco's second quarter will include the results from part of November, all of December and all of January.

The retailer previously reported that sales were up 9.9% year-over-year to $27.52 billion in December and up 9.2% year-over-year to $19.51 billion in January. Those monthly sales reports likely signal a strong quarter from the retailer. The question is if it will be enough to beat analyst estimates.

COST Price Action: Costco stock trades at $1,047.75 versus a 52-week trading range of $697.27 to $1,078.24. Costco stock is up 14.6% year-to-date in 2025 and up 37.2% over the last year.

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