(By Balachander) Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ:COST) reported a 6 percent growth in comparable sales for the month of September, positively impacted by inflation in gasoline prices and foreign currencies.
Excluding these effects, comparable sales rose 5 percent. The key measure at the U.S. increased 5 percent and International comps gained 6 percent.
The company's net sales rose 8 percent to $9.31 billion last month.
Net sales for the fourth quarter were $31.52 billion, up 14 percent from the same period of last year. Excluding the above mentioned effects, comparable sales rose 6 percent.
Costco operates 608 warehouses, including 439 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 82 in Canada, 32 in Mexico, 22 in the United Kingdom, 13 in Japan, nine in Taiwan, eight in Korea and three in Australia.
The company intends to open up to 14 new warehouses before the end of calendar year 2012.
The stock, which has been trading in the 52-week range of $78.41 to $103.51, closed at $99.62 on Wednesday.