Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST) said today that total sales for the month of June declined 4% to $6.9 billion.
The warehouse club operator’s same-store sales slipped 6%, still matching the Street’s view. Same-store sales contracted 6% in US locations, while it fell by 3% in international markets.
The company attributed the sluggish performance to weak discretionary spending by consumers amid recessionary conditions, partially offset by growth in food items and sundries.
Costco also said that average transaction in June slipped 9.5% year over year, including the negative impact of lower gas prices as well as a stronger dollar.
Analysts, on average, have lowered expectations for the year ending August 2009, sending the consensus down by a penny to $2.48 per share over the past 2 months.
Shares of Costco are down about 1% on volume of approximately 4.1 million, compared to the average daily volume of about 4.5 million.
COST is a Zacks #3 Rank (“Hold”) stock.
“COST” Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?
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