Jefferies: COST Will Remain "Best Performer" In Broadline Retail Group

Jefferies said that it believes that Costco Wholesale Corporation COST will remain the “best performer in our group as it benefits from gas traffic and ticket as well as strong trends inside the club.” “We expect Costco to continue to benefit from gas inflation and post another strong comp sales result of 6%-7%, in line with the consensus expectations for a 7.1% increase,” Jefferies writes. “We think the U.S. core comp will come in at 4%-5% after stripping out gas and the Easter shift. “We are expecting International to be up 7%-9% in local currency after stripping out the Easter shift. The total company should have benefited by about 250 bps from gas inflation and by 150 bps from FX. The Easter shift should be a detriment of 1%-2% (we use 2% in our estimates).”