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From its $4.99 roast chickens to its $1.50 hot dog combos, Costco has long been a favorite of price-conscious shoppers.
Amid rising food prices, inflation-hit consumers are looking to put their money to work, much to Costco’s benefit. The wholesaler ended the fiscal second quarter of 2023 with 123 million cardholders, up about 7% from a year ago, Costco chief financial officer Richard Galanti said on the call for March 2 results.
The retailer reported revenue of $55.27 billion for its fiscal 2023 second quarter, missing analysts’ forecast of $55.54 billion, according to consensus estimates from Refinitiv. However, the company reported earnings per share (EPS) of $3.30, which beat the $3.21 expected by analysts.
While the retailer doesn’t plan to increase its annual membership fees at this time, shoppers may need to be prepared to pay a bit more for membership in the future. Asked about a possible fee hike, Galanti said “it’s a matter of when, not if.”
It’s been nearly six years since Costco raised its membership fees. In June 2017, Costco increased the price of its Standard Gold Star membership from $55 to $60 and increased the price of its Executive membership from $110 to $120.
In 2022, Costco is the third-largest retailer in the United States by revenue, according to the National Retail Federation’s “2022 Top 100 Retailers List.”
Costco released its fiscal second quarter results after the March 2 bell. The next day, the shares edged down 2.15% and ended the session at $475.26 per share.
Here’s how much money you would have as of March 3 if you had invested $1,000 in the business one, five and 10 years ago.
Here’s how much money you would have as of March 3, 2023 if you had invested $1,000 in Costco one, five and 10 years ago.
If you invested $1,000 in Costco a year ago, your investment was worth about $898 as of March 3, according to CNBC calculations.
If you had invested $1,000 in Costco five years ago, your investment would have more than doubled to $2,639 by March 3, according to CNBC calculations.
And if you had invested $1,000 in Costco ten years ago, it would have grown to $5,124 by March 3, according to CNBC calculations.
If you want to invest in Costco, Walmart, or another company, remember: the stock market is unpredictable, and you shouldn’t use a stock’s past performance to predict its future performance.
A passive investment strategy tends to make sense for most investors, rather than picking individual stocks. Experts generally recommend investing in low-cost index funds, which can give your portfolio exposure to a wide range of companies.
Investing in the S&P 500 can be a good starting point, for example. It’s a market index that tracks the performance of the stocks of 500 major US companies, which can introduce diversity to your portfolio.
As of March 3, the S&P 500 is down slightly more than 7% from 12 months ago, according to CNBC calculations. However, the index has increased by around 50% since 2018 and around 166% since 2013.
Get CNBC Free Warren Buffett’s Guide to Investingwhich distills the billionaire’s best advice for regular investors, dos and don’ts, and three key investing principles into one clear and simple guide.
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