[caption id="attachment_97691" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Source: Company reports/Coresight Research[/caption]   4Q19 Results Costco Wholesale reported 4Q19 revenues of $47.50 billion, up 7.0% year over year and comfortably above the $37.33 billion consensus estimate. EPS was $2.47, up 4.9% compared to the year-ago quarter and easily beating the $1.71 consensus estimate. Comps increased 5.1% compared to 7.2% in the year-ago quarter, excluding the impact of changes in gasoline prices, foreign exchange and an accounting change related to revenue recognition. Net income for the quarter was $1.1 billion, up 5.2% compared to the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 11.1%, an increase of 14 bps year over year. Operating margin was 3.1%, a decrease of 18 bps year over year. Store traffic increased by 3.7% worldwide and 3.6% in the US. FY19 Results FY19 revenues totaled $152.7 billion, up 7.9% over FY18. Net income for FY19 was $3.7 billion, up 16.8% compared to the previous fiscal year. Comps increased 6.1%, compared to 6.8% in the prior year, excluding the impact of changes in gasoline prices, foreign exchange and an accounting change related to revenue recognition. EPS was $8.26—up 16.5%—and was impacted by a $30 million net benefit primarily from non-recurring items. Details from the Quarter

• Costco’s net sales were $46.5 billion, a 7.0% increase over the year-ago quarter.
• Membership fee income was $1.1 billion, up 5.3% year over year and constituting 2.2% of total revenue.
• As of the end of the fourth quarter, membership renewal rates in the US and Canada stand at 90.9% (up from 90.7% at the end of 3Q19), and worldwide rates at 88.4% (up from 88.3% at the end of 3Q19).
• At the end of the fourth quarter, the company’s members numbered 53.9 million, up from 53.1 million at the end of the previous quarter. Total cardholders reached 98.5 million, up from 97.2 million at the end of the previous quarter.
• During the quarter, Costco had 10 net new openings, of which eight were in the US, one in the UK and one warehouse opening in Shanghai, China.
• The company’s e-commerce sales grew 21.9% on a comparable basis. Management also stated that growth was particularly strong in electronics and appliance categories and that online grocery is continuing to grow at a healthy pace.

Outlook Consensus estimates from StreetAccount call for Costco to report revenues of $163.7 billion and EPS of $8.56 in FY20. For 1Q20, consensus estimates call for Costco to report revenues of $37.35 billion and EPS of $1.71.