Costco Wholesale (COST 3.20%) slid 2.6% through 10:05 a.m. ET Thursday after reporting same-store sales (SSS) for November and Q1 last night -- and yet, the news wasn't bad.
For the four weeks ended Nov. 30, Costco grew its net sales 8.1% to $23.6 billion. Sales for the 12 weeks preceding that date were $66 billion, up 8.2%. And sales for the entire first fiscal quarter 2026 were $72 billion -- also up 8.2%.
Image source: Costco.
Costco minus gas
One of Costco's most popular features is its in-store gas stations, offering cheaper-than-retail prices and the potential for 5% cash back with a Costco credit card. Costco figured out that consumers might come for cheap gas, and do some shopping after visiting the pump -- or they might come to stock up on groceries, and fill up the tank on the way home.
Either way, it's greater sales for Costco.
Subtract gasoline sales from Costco's same-store sales numbers, and the SSS number was 0.5% lower for the month of November, and 0.1% lower for all of Q1 -- but the same for the last 12 weeks. So basically, Costco got a bit of a boost from gas sales in November, but overall it was a wash.
NASDAQ: COST
Key Data Points
Is Costco stock a sell?
Long story short, there's not a whole lot of logic to investors selling off Costco stock today. Analysts have been forecasting 8% sales growth for Costco in Q1 -- $67.1 billion -- and it looks like Costco's going to beat that number with a stick.
I won't say Costco is a cheap stock. I'd rarely, if ever, call a stock costing 50 times earnings cheap. But if you thought Costco stock was worth buying before its November SSS report, I see nothing in the news that should cause you to think otherwise today.
