Costco Wholesale Corp. surged the most since March 2020 after improving December sales soothed investor concerns about a slowdown in November.
Excluding the impact of changes in gasoline prices, Costco’s US comparable sales climbed 6.4 per cent last month, topping the 5 per cent average of analyst estimates compiled by Consensus Metrix. In November, the closely followed sales gauge only rose 4.6 per cent, the smallest gain since April 2020.
“This is the first major retailer to provide an indication of December results, and the rebound versus November to better-than-expected comps endorses the theory that holiday sales came late in 2022 after a slow start in November,” Michael Baker, an analyst at D.A. Davidson & Co., said in a note to clients.
The warehouse club is benefiting from resilient demand as customers spend heavily on food while also snapping up items such as sporting goods and tires. Still, doubts remain about the durability of the sales gains, and Stifel Financial Corp. analyst Mark Astrachan cautioned that Costco’s upbeat month offers only a limited view of the state of US consumers amid lower purchases of discretionary products.
Costco climbed 7.3 per cent in New York on Friday. The shares tumbled 20 per cent last year, the worst decline since 2008.
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