Fitness financials: December sales surge for Costco, plus Sears, Best Buy
Costco Wholesale reported an 11-percent increase in sales for December, Sears Holding reported a slight uptick in December same-store sales, and Best Buy saw its same-store sales rise sharply in December.
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December sales surge for Costco
Costco Wholesale (Nasdaq: COST) reported an 11-percent increase in sales for December on higher gasoline prices and a weaker dollar.
For the five weeks ended Jan. 3, net sales were $8.26 billion, up from $7.41 billion in the same five-week period last year.
Same-store sales for the entire company increased 9 percent. In the U.S., sales at stores open at least a year climbed 5 percent, while overseas sales surged 25 percent for the same period.
Taking out the impact of higher gas prices and the softer dollar, sales at stores open at least a year climbed 4 percent for the month with the U.S. sales figure edging up 2 percent and international results rising 10 percent.
Kmart boosts Sears’ December sales
Sears Holding (Nasdaq: SHLD) reported a slight uptick in December same-store sales boosted by its Kmart subsidiary.
For the period ended Jan. 2, sales at stores open at least a year were up 0.4 percent. Broken out, Kmart’s same-store sales were up 5.3 percent, while Sears Domestic was down 4.3 percent.
Also, Sears said it is predicting a fourth-quarter profit between $385 million and $465 million, $3.36 to $4.06 per share, for the period that will end Jan. 30. For the full year, it anticipates an adjusted profit between $190 million and $270 million, or $1.61 per share to $2.29 per share, excluding one-time items.
Best Buy posts sales gains for December
Best Buy (NYSE: BBY), which now carries fitness equipment in select stores, saw its same-store sales figure rise sharply in December — compared with a plunge a year earlier.
Same-store sales for December rose 8.2 percent, compared with a 6.5-percent drop a year earlier. That includes a 9.3-percent rise domestically and a 3.5-percent increase internationally.
Best Buy’s total sales rose 13 percent to $8.5 billion.
–Compiled by Wendy Geister
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