GlobalData
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Costco Wholesale has disclosed a net sales increase of 8% to $61.96bn for the third quarter (Q3) of fiscal 2025, up from $57.39bn in the same period of the previous year.
Comparable sales metrics showed a rise of 5.7% with an adjusted increase of 8% when excluding the impacts from changes in gasoline prices and foreign exchange. E-commerce comparable sales experienced significant growth at 14.8%.
Gross margin for Costco stood at 11.25% - an improvement of 41 basis points compared to the third quarter of fiscal year 2024 and a rise of 29 basis points after adjusting for gasoline price impacts.
Net income for the quarter was reported at $1.9bn or $4.28 per diluted share - a growth of 13.2% compared to $1.68bn or $3.78 per diluted share reported in the same quarter of the previous year.
The company explained in its most recent earnings call that this performance came despite facing challenges including a last-in, first-out (LIFO) accounting charge of $130m within the quarter. Operating income was also adversely affected due to an accrual adjustment of $40m. This adjustment was necessary to account for the accrued increase in employee vacation days that were part of the employee agreement established in March 2025.
Q3 membership income exhibited a growth rate of 10.4% and when excluding foreign exchange impacts, it increased by 11.4%. The company maintained a high worldwide membership renewal rate at 90.2% and reported a total paid membership growth of 6.8%.
Total cardholders now number 142.8 million with a growth rate of 6.6%. Executive memberships have reached 37.6 million and executive members account for 73.1% of total sales.
For the first 36 weeks of the fiscal year, net sales rose 8.2% to $185.48bn from $171.44bn the previous year.
Over the first three quarters of the fiscal year 2025, net income totalled $5.49bn or $12.34 per diluted share, an increase from $5.01bn or $11.27 per diluted share during the previous equivalent period.
Costco president and CEO Ron Vachris said in the earnings call: “We're remaining agile as a situation with tariffs evolves, while also supporting the commitments we've made with our long-term suppliers. As an example of this, during the third quarter, we rerouted many goods sourced from countries with large tariff exposure to our non-US markets. In the US, we pulled forward some items that we had planned for the summer and sourced additional locally produced goods to reduce tariff impacts and ensure that we were in stock. Actions such as these are allowing us to continue to provide great values for our members, while also delivering value to our shareholders.”
