ISSAQUAH, Wash., March 04, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Costco Wholesale Corporation (“Costco” or the “Company”) (Nasdaq: COST) today announced its operating results for the second quarter (twelve weeks) and the first 24 weeks of fiscal 2021, ended February 14, 2021.
Net sales for the quarter increased 14.7 percent, to $43.89 billion, from $38.26 billion last year. Net sales for the first 24 weeks increased 15.8 percent, to $86.23 billion, from $74.49 billion last year.
Comparable sales for the second quarter fiscal 2021 were as follows:
| 12 Weeks | 12 Weeks | 24 Weeks | 24 Weeks | ||||||
| Adjusted* | Adjusted* | ||||||||
| U.S. | 11.4% | 12.6% | 13.0% | 14.7% | |||||
| Canada | 13.4% | 10.6% | 14.8% | 13.6% | |||||
| Other International | 21.5% | 17.7% | 20.2% | 17.7% | |||||
| Total Company | 13.0% | 12.9% | 14.2% | 15.0% | |||||
| E-commerce | 75.8% | 74.8% | 80.4% | 79.7% | |||||
| *Excluding the impacts from changes in gasoline prices and foreign exchange. | |||||||||
Net income for the quarter was $951 million, or $2.14 per diluted share, which includes $246 million pretax, or $0.41 per diluted share, in costs incurred primarily from COVID-19 premium wages. Last year’s second quarter net income was $931 million, or $2.10 per diluted share. Net income for the first 24 weeks was $2.12 billion, or $4.76 per diluted share, compared to $1.77 billion, or $4.00 per diluted share, last year.
For the four-week reporting month of February, ended February 28, 2021, the Company reported net sales of $14.05 billion, an increase of 15.2 percent from $12.20 billion last year. For the twenty-six week period ended February 28, 2021, net sales were $93.16 billion, an increase of 15.4 percent from $80.76 billion last year.
Comparable sales for the February and year-to-date periods ended February 28, 2021, were as follows:
| 4 Weeks | 4 Weeks | 26 Weeks | 26 Weeks | ||||||
| Adjusted* | Adjusted* | ||||||||
| U.S. | 10.3% | 10.3% | 12.4% | 14.0% | |||||
| Canada | 21.6% | 15.7% | 15.0% | 13.5% | |||||
| Other International | 25.7% | 20.6% | 20.0% | 17.2% | |||||
| Total Company | 13.8% | 12.3% | 13.8% | 14.3% | |||||
| E-commerce | 91.1% | 89.4% | 81.0% | 80.3% | |||||
| *Excluding the impacts from changes in gasoline prices and foreign exchange. | |||||||||
Costco currently operates 804 warehouses, including 558 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 103 in Canada, 39 in Mexico, 29 in the United Kingdom, 27 in Japan, 16 in Korea, 14 in Taiwan, 12 in Australia, three in Spain, and one each in Iceland, France, and China. Costco also operates e-commerce sites in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Korea, Taiwan, Japan, and Australia.
A conference call to discuss these results is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. (PT) today, March 4, 2021, and is available via a webcast on www.costco.com (click on Investor Relations and “Play Webcast”).
Certain statements contained in this document constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. For these purposes, forward-looking statements are statements that address activities, events, conditions or developments that the Company expects or anticipates may occur in the future. In some cases forward-looking statements can be identified because they contain words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “likely,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “seek,” “should,” “target,” “will,” “would,” or similar expressions and the negatives of those terms. Such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual events, results or performance to differ materially from those indicated by such statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, domestic and international economic conditions, including exchange rates, the effects of competition and regulation, uncertainties in the financial markets, consumer and small business spending patterns and debt levels, breaches of security or privacy of member or business information, conditions affecting the acquisition, development, ownership or use of real estate, capital spending, actions of vendors, rising costs associated with employees (generally including health-care costs), energy and certain commodities, geopolitical conditions (including tariffs), the ability to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting, COVID-19 related factors and challenges, including (among others) the duration of the pandemic, the unknown long-term economic impact, reduced shopping due to illness, travel restrictions or financial hardship, shifts in demand away from discretionary or higher-priced products, reduced workforces due to illness, quarantine, or government mandates, temporary store closures due to reduced workforces or government mandates, or supply-chain disruptions, capacity constraints of third-party logistics suppliers, and other risks identified from time to time in the Company’s public statements and reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and the Company does not undertake to update these statements, except as required by law.
| CONTACTS: | Costco Wholesale Corporation |
| Richard Galanti, 425/313-8203 | |
| Bob Nelson, 425/313-8255 | |
| David Sherwood, 425/313-8239 | |
| Josh Dahmen, 425/313-8254 |
| COSTCO WHOLESALE CORPORATION | |||||||||||||||||||
| CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME | |||||||||||||||||||
| (dollars in millions, except per share data) | |||||||||||||||||||
| (unaudited) | |||||||||||||||||||
| 12 Weeks Ended | 24 Weeks Ended | ||||||||||||||||||
| February 14, 2021 | February 16, 2020 | February 14, 2021 | February 16, 2020 | ||||||||||||||||
| REVENUE | |||||||||||||||||||
| Net sales | $ | 43,888 | $ | 38,256 | $ | 86,235 | $ | 74,492 | |||||||||||
| Membership fees | 881 | 816 | 1,742 | 1,620 | |||||||||||||||
| Total revenue | 44,769 | 39,072 | 87,977 | 76,112 | |||||||||||||||
| OPERATING EXPENSES | |||||||||||||||||||
| Merchandise costs | 39,078 | 34,056 | 76,536 | 66,289 | |||||||||||||||
| Selling, general and administrative | 4,342 | 3,743 | 8,640 | 7,475 | |||||||||||||||
| Preopening expenses | 9 | 7 | 31 | 21 | |||||||||||||||
| Operating income | 1,340 | 1,266 | 2,770 | 2,327 | |||||||||||||||
| OTHER INCOME (EXPENSE) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Interest expense | (40 | ) | (34 | ) | (79 | ) | (72 | ) | |||||||||||
| Interest income and other, net | 19 | 45 | 48 | 80 | |||||||||||||||
| INCOME BEFORE INCOME TAXES | 1,319 | 1,277 | 2,739 | 2,335 | |||||||||||||||
| Provision for income taxes | 348 | 330 | 587 | 532 | |||||||||||||||
| Net income including noncontrolling interests | 971 | 947 | 2,152 | 1,803 | |||||||||||||||
| Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests | (20 | ) | (16 | ) | (35 | ) | (28 | ) | |||||||||||
| NET INCOME ATTRIBUTABLE TO COSTCO | $ | 951 | $ | 931 | $ | 2,117 | $ | 1,775 | |||||||||||
| NET INCOME PER COMMON SHARE ATTRIBUTABLE TO COSTCO: | |||||||||||||||||||
| Basic | $ | 2.15 | $ | 2.10 | $ | 4.78 | $ | 4.02 | |||||||||||
| Diluted | $ | 2.14 | $ | 2.10 | $ | 4.76 | $ | 4.00 | |||||||||||
| Shares used in calculation (000s): | |||||||||||||||||||
| Basic | 443,134 | 442,021 | 443,043 | 441,920 | |||||||||||||||
| Diluted | 444,494 | 443,727 | 444,440 | 443,704 | |||||||||||||||
| COSTCO WHOLESALE CORPORATION | |||||||||||
| CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS | |||||||||||
| (amounts in millions, except par value and share data) | |||||||||||
| (unaudited) | |||||||||||
| Subject to Reclassification | |||||||||||
| February 14, 2021 | August 30, 2020 | ||||||||||
| ASSETS | |||||||||||
| CURRENT ASSETS | |||||||||||
| Cash and cash equivalents | $ | 8,637 | $ | 12,277 | |||||||
| Short-term investments | 617 | 1,028 | |||||||||
| Receivables, net | 1,934 | 1,550 | |||||||||
| Merchandise inventories | 13,865 | 12,242 | |||||||||
| Other current assets | 1,255 | 1,023 | |||||||||
| Total current assets | 26,308 | 28,120 | |||||||||
| OTHER ASSETS | |||||||||||
| Property and equipment, net | 22,531 | 21,807 | |||||||||
| Operating lease right-of-use assets | 2,887 | 2,788 | |||||||||
| Other long-term assets | 3,192 | 2,841 | |||||||||
| TOTAL ASSETS | $ | 54,918 | $ | 55,556 | |||||||
| LIABILITIES AND EQUITY | |||||||||||
| CURRENT LIABILITIES | |||||||||||
| Accounts payable | $ | 14,383 | $ | 14,172 | |||||||
| Accrued salaries and benefits | 4,132 | 3,605 | |||||||||
| Accrued member rewards | 1,541 | 1,393 | |||||||||
| Deferred membership fees | 2,048 | 1,851 | |||||||||
| Current portion of long-term debt | 95 | 95 | |||||||||
| Other current liabilities | 4,365 | 3,728 | |||||||||
| Total current liabilities | 26,564 | 24,844 | |||||||||
| OTHER LIABILITIES | |||||||||||
| Long-term debt, excluding current portion | 7,522 | 7,514 | |||||||||
| Long-term operating lease liabilities | 2,651 | 2,558 | |||||||||
| Other long-term liabilities | 2,052 | 1,935 | |||||||||
| TOTAL LIABILITIES | 38,789 | 36,851 | |||||||||
| COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES | |||||||||||
| EQUITY | |||||||||||
| Preferred stock $0.01 par value; 100,000,000 shares authorized; no shares issued and outstanding | — | — | |||||||||
| Common stock $0.01 par value; 900,000,000 shares authorized; 442,654,000 and 441,255,000 shares issued and outstanding | 4 | 4 | |||||||||
| Additional paid-in capital | 6,843 | 6,698 | |||||||||
| Accumulated other comprehensive loss | (961 | ) | (1,297 | ) | |||||||
| Retained earnings | 9,766 | 12,879 | |||||||||
| Total Costco stockholders’ equity | 15,652 | 18,284 | |||||||||
| Noncontrolling interests | 477 | 421 | |||||||||
| TOTAL EQUITY | 16,129 | 18,705 | |||||||||
| TOTAL LIABILITIES AND EQUITY | $ | 54,918 | $ | 55,556 | |||||||