Costco has reported another set of strong figures for its US operations. In May, US comparable sales rose by 13.7% on a reported basis. Excluding the impact of gasoline price fluctuations and foreign exchange, growth reached 8.7%, compared to 8.0% in April and 6.6% over the first 39 weeks of its fiscal year.
The digital channel also remains highly dynamic, with "digitally-enabled" comparable sales up 20.9% in May, nearly in line with the 21.1% increase observed since the start of the fiscal year on an adjusted basis.
These results are rather reassuring in the current climate, as persistently high energy prices do not appear to have dented demand for routine purchases at Costco. This sentiment is further supported by the Redbook Index, which tracks comparable sales at approximately 9,000 stores across the United States. During the weeks of May, the index recorded its strongest growth since 2022 (+9.6%, +8.1%, +9.0%, and +9.0%).
For the Federal Reserve, the implicit message is somewhat uncomfortable: inflation data has been re-accelerating since the beginning of the year, unemployment figures are stabilizing, while consumption data is improving, despite the surge in oil prices. Consequently, the case for rapid monetary easing remains more difficult to defend.
Costco shares gained nearly 2% in Thursday trading, the day after these figures were released.
Costco Wholesale Corporation specializes in the distribution of products and services at discount prices (food, sports equipment, household appliances, books, toys, jewelry, TVs, cameras, photo developing and printing services, etc.). The group develops its activity through a network of warehouse stores opened to individuals or companies who have paid a subscription fee. Net sales break down by revenue source as follows:
- sales of products (98.1%);
- sales of subscriptions (1.9%).
As of 31/08/2025, Costco Wholesale Corporation had a network of 914 warehouse stores located in the United States and Puerto Rico (629), Canada (110), Mexico (42), Japan (37), the United Kingdom (29), Korea (20), Australia (15), Taiwan (14), China (7), Spain (5), France (2), Sweden (2), New Zealand and Iceland.
Net sales are distributed geographically as follows: the United States (72.7%), Canada (13.4%) and other (13.9%).
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