Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Hello, and thank you for calling Costco Wholesale Corporation. I'm David Sherwood, AVP of Finance and Investor Relations, and I will review our sales results for the 4-week retail month of April, which started on Monday, April 6, and ended on Sunday, May 3. This period is compared to the 4 weeks that began on Monday, April 8, and ended on Sunday, May 5, 2019. This call will include forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual events, results and/or performance to differ materially from those indicated by such statements. The risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those outlined in today's call and sales release as well as other risks identified from time to time in the company's public statements and reports filed with the SEC. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made and the company does not undertake to update them, except as required by law. As reported in our release, net sales for the 4-week month of April came in at $11.39 billion, a decrease of 1.8% from $11.60 billion last year. Comparable sales were as follows: on a reported basis, in the U.S., the 4 weeks was a negative 3.3%; 35 weeks, 6.7%. In Canada, the 4 weeks was a negative 11.7%; 35 weeks, 3.4%. Other International, 4 weeks, negative 4.6%; 35 weeks, 5.7%. And total company, the 4 weeks, negative 4.7%; 35 weeks, 6.1%. For e-commerce, the 4 weeks was at 85.7%, and the 35 weeks was at 29.4%. Comparable sales, excluding the impacts from change in gasoline prices and foreign exchange were as follows: in the U.S., the 4 weeks was at 0.0%; 35 weeks, 7.1%. Canada, the 4 weeks is a negative 5.0%; 35 weeks, 5.1%. Other International, the 4 weeks was at 2.0%; 35 weeks, 7.7%. And total company, the 4 weeks was a negative 0.5%, and 35 weeks was 6.9%. E-commerce for the 4 weeks, 87.7%; and the 35 weeks, 29.9%. April sales were negatively impacted by COVID-19. Stay-at-home orders, social distancing restrictions and some mandatory closures led to decreased traffic and sales in our warehouses. Limited service in travel and our food courts, closures of most of our optical hearing aid and photo departments, and lower volume and price deflation in our gasoline business negatively impacted our April sales by an estimated 12 percentage points, of which approximately 70% related to gasoline. Comparable sales, excluding gasoline, optical, travel, food court, hearing aids, photo and foreign exchange were as follows: in the U.S., the 4 weeks was 11.2%; Canada, the 4 weeks was at 1.5%; Other International, the 4 weeks was at 4.3%; and total company for the 4 weeks was at 8.6%. While the negative impacts of COVID-19 on our comparable sales were felt throughout the month, we did see week-to-week improvement in sales and traffic for all 4 weeks. Our comp traffic or frequency for April was down 19% worldwide and 16% in the U.S. The average transaction was up 18% for the month, which includes the negative impacts from foreign exchange and gasoline deflation. In terms of regional and merchandising categories, the general highlights were as follows: U.S. regions with the strongest results were Texas, Northeast and San Diego; Other International, in local currencies, we saw the strongest results in Taiwan, Korea and U.K. Foreign currencies year-over-year relative to the U.S. dollar impacted April comp sales as follows: Canada, negatively by approximately 420 basis points; Other International, negatively by approximately 540 basis points; and total company, negatively by approximately 130 basis points. Moving to merchandise highlights. The following comparable sales results by category for the month exclude the impact of foreign exchange. Food and sundries were positive mid-teens. Departments with the strongest results were frozen food, foods and cooler. Fresh foods were up low 20s. Better-performing departments included meat and produce. Hardlines were positive low single digits. Better-performing departments included major appliances, which includes consumer electronics, seasonal and lawn and garden. Softlines were down low 20s. Underperforming departments included luggage, apparel and jewelry. Ancillary businesses were down 50%. This was primarily as a result of closures and lower gasoline sales. Gasoline price deflation negatively impacted total reported comp sales by approximately 3%. The average selling price was lower year-over-year at $1.94 per gallon this year compared to $3.12 a year earlier. Looking ahead, the May reporting period will include the 4 weeks beginning May 4 and ending May 31 compared to the 4 weeks beginning May 6 and ending June 2, 2019. May sales will be announced Wednesday, June 3 at 1:15 p.m. Pacific Time. Prior to that, we will be releasing our fiscal year 2020 third quarter results on May 28. The press release is scheduled for 1:15 p.m. Pacific Time with the conference call to follow at 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time. The call can be accessed via our webcast and will be available on our Investor Relations website. Costco currently operates 787 warehouses, including 547 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 100 in Canada, 39 in Mexico, 29 in the United Kingdom, 26 in Japan, 16 in Korea, 13 in Taiwan, 12 in Australia, 2 in Spain and 1 each in Iceland, France and China. Costco also operates e-commerce websites in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Mexico, Korea, Taiwan, Japan and Australia. If you have any questions regarding our April sales results or any other Investor Relations questions, please do not hesitate to call Bob Nelson at (425) 313-8255, Josh Dahmen at (425) 313-8254 or myself, David Sherwood, at (425) 313-8239. This recording will be available until 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time, Wednesday, May 13. Thanks for calling. Have a great day. Goodbye.