Costco Wholesale Corp (NASDAQ:COST) saw its shares extend further gains in premarket trade after the company released market-beating first quarter results.
Its shares initially rose 1.1% late Thursday following the release of the fiscal first quarter numbers.
Investment in e-commerce pays off
The membership-based retail chain told investors that it had earned US$640mln, or US$1.45 a share, in the quarter, up from US$545mln or US$1.24 a share, posted the year before.
Revenue rose to US$31.81bn, compared with US$28.1bn a year ago.
Wall Street consensus was for earnings of US$1.33 a share on revenue of US$31.13bn.
During the quarter, comparable-store sales rose 10.5%, and e-commerce sales rose 43.5%.
The retailer had been investing heavily on e-commerce, launching initiatives such as two-day delivery on dry groceries and a same-day service through a partnership with Instacart to combat Amazon.com Inc’s (AMZN.O) online dominance.
Costco’s comparable online sales, excluding the impact of fuel and currency fluctuations, rose 42.1% in the first quarter, after growing 21% in the previous quarter.
In premarket trade, its shares were up 2.72% at US$186.53.
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