Wall Street Strategies Comments On Costco (COST)

Wall Street Strategies provided color on Costco COST in a pre-market research note published today. Wall Street Strategies previously downgraded Costco from Buy to Hold on December 31, 2010. In the report, Wall Street Strategies states, "The area of concern for us is the gross margin shortfall; was it solely a result of increased gasoline price inflation or was it the core merchandise assortment starting to be hampered by inflation in fresh foods, consumables, and apparel? Going further, Costco reported EPS of $0.79, in line to consensus (but below estimates of many bullish analysts), aided by share repurchases and another quarter of operating expense discipline, so there is a quality of quarter aspect at play." Shares of Costco closed at $73.62 on Tuesday, down 1.56% from Monday's market close.