NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Costco Wholesale are rising, higher by 0.47% to $145 in pre-market trading on Thursday, after the warehouse retailer reported a 3% increase in same-store sales for December, topping analysts' estimates of 2.8%. December comp sales, excluding fuel, was up 8% from a year ago. The company also reported this morning that net sales for the month of December rose 5% to $12.12 billion from 11.53 billion a year ago. Exclusive Report: Jim Cramer's Best Stocks for 2015 STOCKS TO BUY: TheStreet Quant Ratings has identified a handful of stocks that can potentially TRIPLE in the next 12 months. Learn more. Issaquah, WA-based Costco currently operates 671 warehouses, including 474 in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, 88 in Canada, 34 in Mexico, 26 in the U.K., 20 in Japan, 11 in Korea, 10 in Taiwan, seven in Australia and one in Spain. Separately, TheStreet Ratings team rates COSTCO WHOLESALE CORP as a Buy with a ratings score of A. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation: "We rate COSTCO WHOLESALE CORP (COST) a BUY. This is based on the convergence of positive investment measures, which should help this stock outperform the majority of stocks that we rate. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, growth in earnings per share, increase in net income, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures and solid stock price performance. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company shows low profit margins." Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows: COST's revenue growth has slightly outpaced the industry average of 1.1%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly increased by 7.4%. Growth in the company's revenue appears to have helped boost the earnings per share. COSTCO WHOLESALE CORP has improved earnings per share by 16.7% in the most recent quarter compared to the same quarter a year ago. The company has demonstrated a pattern of positive earnings per share growth over the past two years. We feel that this trend should continue. During the past fiscal year, COSTCO WHOLESALE CORP increased its bottom line by earning $4.66 versus $4.63 in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings ($5.20 versus $4.66). The net income growth from the same quarter one year ago has exceeded that of the S&P 500 and greatly outperformed compared to the Food & Staples Retailing industry average. The net income increased by 16.7% when compared to the same quarter one year prior, going from $425.00 million to $496.00 million. The stock has not only risen over the past year, it has done so at a faster pace than the S&P 500, reflecting the earnings growth and other positive factors similar to those we have cited here. Looking ahead, the stock's rise over the last year has already helped drive it to a level which is relatively expensive compared to the rest of its industry. We feel, however, that the other strengths this company displays justify these higher price levels. Net operating cash flow has increased to $1,128.00 million or 20.12% when compared to the same quarter last year. Despite an increase in cash flow, COSTCO WHOLESALE CORP's cash flow growth rate is still lower than the industry average growth rate of 53.93%. You can view the full analysis from the report here: COST Ratings Report STOCKS TO BUY: TheStreet Quant Ratings has identified a handful of stocks that can potentially TRIPLE in the next 12 months. Learn more.
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