Q3 2024 Costco Wholesale Corp Earnings Call Transcript
Key Points
- Costco Wholesale Corp (COST) reported a significant increase in net income for the third quarter, reaching $1.68 billion, or $3.78 per diluted share, up from $1.3 billion and $2.93 per diluted share in the same quarter last year.
- Net sales for the third quarter were $57.39 billion, an increase of 9.1% from $52.6 billion in the third quarter last year.
- Membership fee income grew by 7.6% year over year, reaching $1,123 million, with a US and Canada renewal rate of 93%.
- E-commerce comp sales saw a substantial increase of 20.7%, both on a reported basis and adjusted for foreign exchange.
- Costco Wholesale Corp (COST) continues to expand its warehouse footprint, with plans to open 30 new locations in fiscal '24, including international markets like Japan and Korea.
- Foreign currencies relative to the US dollar negatively impacted sales by approximately 20 basis points.
- Gasoline price inflation only positively impacted sales by approximately 30 basis points, indicating limited benefit from this factor.
- Gross margin for ancillary and other businesses was lower by 6 basis points year over year, driven by gas, partially offset by e-commerce.
- Interest expense increased to $41 million this year from $36 million last year.
- Despite the overall positive performance, the profitability in gas was down, creating a headwind in the ancillary businesses segment.
Thank you for standing by. My name is Krista, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Costco Wholesale Corporation third-quarter 2024 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions)
Thank you. I will now turn the conference over to Gary Millerchip, Executive Vice President and Chief Finance Officer. Gary, you may begin your conference.
Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining the call today. I'd like to start by saying how excited I am to be part of the Costco team, and it is a pleasure to be hosting my first Costco quarterly conference call. The whole Costco team has been incredibly welcoming. And as you might imagine, my first three months working alongside Richard has been a lot of fun.
It's also being great visiting warehouses and facilities to immerse myself in the Costco culture and experience first-hand how this is positioning the company for continued growth. Over recent
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