Shares of Costco Wholesale Corp.
COST,
bounced 2.2% off a 6 1/2-month low in premarket trading Friday, after the membership-based warehouse retailer reported upbeat December sales. The company reported late Thursday net sales of $23.80 billion for the month of December, up 7.0% from the same period a year ago. For the five weeks to Jan. 1, comparable-store sales (comps) excluding gasoline sales and currency impacts rose 7.3% from a year ago. That compares with a 5.3% rise in November, the FactSet consensus for the fiscal second-quarter through February of 5.2%. “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,” D.A. Davidson analyst Michael Baker wrote in a note to clients. He reiterated his neutral rating on the stock but raised his price target to $478 from $423. The stock, which closed Thursday at the lowest price since June 17, 2022, has lost 6.7% over the past three months, while the SPDR Consumer Staples Select Sector ETF
XLP,
has rallied 9.3% and the S&P 500
SPX,
has gained 1.7%.
