(Reuters) – Costco Wholesale Corp beat Wall Street estimates for quarterly revenue on Thursday, boosted by strong consumer spending on its fresh food, home furnishings and fuel offerings amid surging inflation.
An average shopper at Costco makes more than a typical Walmart and Target customer, and the warehouse club operator’s efforts to keep gas prices several cents below the national average has driven memberships.
The company’s revenue from memberships, which are priced between $60 and $120 per year, rose to $984 million in the quarter from $901 million a year earlier.
Its results come at a time when Walmart posted a fall in revenue due to the impact of decades-high inflation hitting consumer spending.
The membership-only retail chain’s total revenue rose to $52.60 billion in the third quarter, from $45.28 billion a year earlier, beating analysts’ estimates of $51.71 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
However, shares of the warehouse club operator fell about 2% in extended trading.
(Reporting by Ananya Mariam Rajesh in Bengaluru; Editing by Amy Caren Daniel)
