Costco Q1 earnings: ‘strap yourself to the mast’

Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ: COST) is trending up in extended hours after reporting solid results for its first financial quarter.

Costco authorises a special dividend

Investors are cheering the announcement of a special dividend as well.

On Thursday, Costco said its board has authorised 15 cents per share of special dividend. Simeon Gutman – a Morgan Stanley analyst recently told CNBC:

Note that the press release today did not reveal any plans of an increase in membership-fee that an executive had recently said was coming. Shares of the retailer are up roughly 40% year-to-date.

Costco Wholesale to get a new CEO

Ron Vachris – who has been with Costco as its President so far is slated to take over as its Chief Executive on January 1^st.

The earnings report revealed a 6.3% increase in eCommerce sales of the Nasdaq-listed firm in Q1. According to Morgan Stanley’s Gutman:

Wall Street currently has a consensus “overweight” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation.

Costco Q1 earnings snapshot

• Earned $1.59 billion versus the year-ago $1.36 billion
• Per-share earnings also climbed from $3.07 to $3.58
• Adjusted EPS printed at $3.48 as per the press release
• Revenue jumped 6.1% year-over-year to $57.80 billion
• Consensus was $3.41 a share on $57.79 billion revenue

The Issaquah-headquartered firm noted a 3.8% annualised growth in its same-store sales in Q1 – in line with expectations. Also today, famed investor Jim Cramer dubbed Costco stock a “best in class” and said “strap yourself to the mast and pay no attention”.