Costco Wholesale (COST) Misses Q2 EPS by 12c; adj.-Comps Up 5%
Comps up 3 percent. Comps, excluding gasoline price deflation and foreign exchange, rose 5 percent.
According to Richard Galanti, Chief Financial Officer of Costco, "Last year's net income was positively impacted by a $62 million ($0.14 per diluted share) tax benefit in connection with the portion of the special cash dividend paid by the Company in December 2012 to the Company 401(k) plan participants. Even with that distinction, however, the year-over-year comparison was unfavorable. Despite satisfactory sales results during the second fiscal quarter, several other factors led to lower earnings. These factors included: weaker sales and gross margin results in certain non-foods merchandise categories, particularly during the four-week holiday selling season; weaker gross margins in our fresh foods business; and lower reported international profits, resulting from the significant weakening of foreign exchange rates. The first four-week period of the quarter represented the majority of earnings underperformance in the quarter."
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