Costco gold and silver gross sales boosted its second quarter

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Costco’s on-line gross sales soared in its most up-to-date quarter and, surprisingly, it has gold bars and silver cash to thank.

The membership warehouse membership chain’s e-commerce sales were up over 18% in the 12 weeks ending Feb. 18, in accordance with its newest quarterly earnings report. As compared, the corporate’s whole gross sales had been solely up 6% in the identical interval.

“E-commerce confirmed energy in a number of areas led by gross sales of gold, and really lately silver,” Costco’s chief monetary officer Richard Galanti, who is retiring this month, advised traders on a name Thursday night.

The information comes as gold prices reached an all-time high this week. The corporate began promoting $2,000 gold bars on its web site in September and lately began hawking 25-count tubes of one-ounce silver coins for $675.

The corporate didn’t disclose how a lot gold and silver was bought this most up-to-date quarter. Nevertheless, in its earlier quarter the corporate reportedly bought $100 million worth of gold.

Regardless of this, the retailer nonetheless missed Wall Road expectations. The corporate’s whole income was up about 6% year-over-year to $58.4 billion in its second quarter, narrowly lacking analysts expectations of $59.2 billion, in accordance with FactSet.

Costco’s inventory slid 4% during after-hours trading on Thursday to about $754.

New menu gadgets on the meals court docket

Galanti additionally famous that the corporate lately changed its $1.50 churro from its meals court docket with a 5.5 ounce chocolate chip cookie that goes for $2.49. It additionally added a $6.99 turkey sandwich to its menu.

He additionally teased that the retailer is bringing its made-in-store sushi to 2 extra areas within the U.S. Presently, Costco-made sushi, which is in style in Asia, is just obtainable within the U.S. at the company’s Issaquah, Washington location.

Costco’s second quarter, by the digits

Costco’s web revenue rose 19% within the 12 weeks ending Feb. 18 to just about $1.7 billion from about $1.5 billion in the identical interval the prior 12 months.

The corporate’s web gross sales within the quarter jumped 6% to $57 billion and income generated from its membership charges grew 8% to $1.1 billion.

Its diluted earnings per share got here to $3.92, above Wall Road expectations of $3.63, in accordance with a consensus estimate from analysts surveyed by FactSet.