Costco shares edge lower after second-quarter profit misses expectations

Investing.com - Costco reported lower-than-anticipated fiscal second-quarter profit, although revenues topped expectations, as consumers wary of the potential inflationary impact of U.S. tariffs turned to bulk-buying.   

Shares in Costco (NASDAQ:COST) fell slightly in premarket trading on Friday.

For the 12 weeks ended February 16, the members-only warehouse retailer reported earnings per diluted share of $4.02, missing estimates of $4.11, while revenue of $63.72 billion were ahead of forecasts of $63.08 billion.

Comparable sales, including gas and currency changes, increased by 6.8%. Membership fees, meanwhile, climbed by 7.4% versus a year earlier to $1.19 billion, versus analysts' estimates of $1.22 billion.

Executives flagged some pressure on gross margins, particularly from egg prices that have soared in recent months due in large part to the spread of U.S. bird flu cases. Cocoa and coffee prices have also ticked higher.

"Fresh was the most inflationary of our categories, driven by meat and bakery," said CFO Gary Millerchip in a post-earnings call. "Food and sundries inflation remained relatively low as inflation in eggs, cocoa, coffee, cheese, and corn were partially offset by deflation in commodities such as sugar, butter, and flower."

Merchandise gross margins came in at 10.85%, about 10 basis points below Wall Street estimates.

CEO Ron Vachris added that Costco would also consider making changes to its international supply chain should sweeping tariffs from U.S. President Donald Trump spark sizeable price hikes.

Vachris added that, due to the specific lay-out of its stores, "there's not many items that we can't find something to replace or something else to bring in."

Still, analysts at Bernstein argued that Costco has "a relatively low exposure" to tariffs on imported goods, "with 1/3 of its U.S. sales being imported and less than half of imported goods coming from China, Mexico, and Canada." Trump has targeted all three of the countries with levies in recent weeks.

(Yasin Ebrahim contributed reporting.)