Costco (COST 0.15%) isn't growing like it used to. The warehouse giant reported a comparable sales improvement of just 3% for the quarter that just closed -- well below the 7% figure it notched last year.
In the video below, Fool contributor Demitrios Kalogeropoulos puts that slowdown in perspective, noting that Costco is still outgrowing rival retailers Wal-Mart (WMT 0.25%) and Target (TGT 0.66%). Costco's profitability also bucked the retailing trend by actually ticking higher in the third quarter, meaning that it didn't have to resort to markdowns to keep those customer traffic levels healthy. Together, Costco's sales and profit growth point to continued momentum heading into what will be a record year of store expansions for the retailer.
