Costco Wholesale Corporation reported comp store sales for the four weeks and 13 weeks ended Nov. 29 rose 2% and 1% respectively in the United States. Excluding gas sales, U.S. comp sales were flat during the month and grew 2% during the 13 week period.
Rising gas prices and a falling dollar propelled dramatic growth internationally, where Costco's comps grew 21% for the four week and 14% for the 13-week period. Excluding those two factors, international comps would have grown just 7% in both periods. Costco operates 77 stores in Canada, 21 in the United Kingdom, seven in Korea, six in Taiwan, nine in Japan, 32 in Mexico and one in Australia.
That led to a blended total comp rates of 6.0%, below analyst expecations of 8.1%.
Costco said total net sales reached $6.04 billion in the four week period, up 8.8% from the same period a year ago.
