Costco's key revenue metric rises 9 pct in Nov.
ISSAQUAH, Wash.—Costco Wholesale Corp.'s revenue at stores open at least a year increased 9 percent in November, thanks to strong performances in the U.S. and overseas.
The figure easily beat Wall Street's expectations. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters predicted the metric would climb 6.5 percent.
Revenue at stores open at least a year is a key gauge of a retailer's health because it excludes results from stores recently opened or closed.
The metric rose 9 percent in both the U.S. and abroad.
The Issaquah, Wash., warehouse club operator said Thursday that higher gas prices helped its same-store revenue performance, while foreign currencies hurt its monthly performance slightly.
Taking out the effect of higher gas prices and currency exchange, revenue at stores open at least a year increased 7 percent in November, with the U.S. up 6 percent and international results up 11 percent.
For the four weeks ended Nov. 27, total revenue rose 11 percent to $7.51 billion.
Costco said it will report its fiscal first-quarter results Dec. 8.
The company runs 596 warehouses, including 433 in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, 82 in Canada, 32 in Mexico, 22 in the U.K., nine in Japan, eight in Taiwan, seven in Korea and three in Australia.
