Costco

One sentence overview: Costco operates a chain of membership-only warehouse clubs.

Costco Ticker     COST

May 28, 2020 Stock Price: $309.56

May 28, 2020 Market Cap: $136.70 billion

Total Shares Outstanding Recent Quarterly Report: 444 million shares

Costco Investor Relations Page

https://investor.costco.com/investor-overview

Costco SEC Page

https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?CIK=cost&owner=exclude&action=getcompany

Costco Glassdoor Ratings

https://www.glassdoor.com/Overview/Working-at-Costco-Wholesale-EI_IE2590.11,27.htm

Costco Overview

Costco Wholesale Corporation, doing business as Costco, is an American multinational corporation which operates a chain of membership-only warehouse clubs.  

Costco’s worldwide headquarters are in Issaquah, Washington, a suburb east of Seattle; the company opened its first warehouse (the chain’s term for its retail outlets) in Seattle 37 years ago in 1983. Through mergers, Costco’s corporate history dates back to 1976, when its former competitor Price Club was founded in San Diego, California. As of December 31, 2019, Costco has a total of 785 warehouses: 546 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 100 in Canada, 39 in Mexico, 29 in the United Kingdom, 26 in Japan, 16 in South Korea, 14 in Taiwan, 11 in Australia, two in Spain, one in Iceland, one in France, and one in China.

Products

Costco has a frequently changing inventory and is known for carrying products for a time, then discontinuing them or using them as seasonal products.  Most of the items are best of breed for the item category. Many warehouses also have gas stations, pharmacies, hearing aid centers, optometrists, eye and sunglass centers, photo processors, and tire garages.

“Kirkland Signature” is Costco’s private label. It is sold by Costco at their website and warehouses, and is trademarked by the company. Costco introduced Kirkland Signature as its private label in 1992, deriving the name from the location of Costco’s then corporate headquarters, Kirkland, Washington (their headquarters later moved, roughly 12 miles, to Issaquah, Washington). It accounts for almost a third of all Costco sales and is growing faster than Costco sales.

The idea for the private label was to provide the appearance of brand name quality products at discounted prices. To counteract the consumer confidence problem common in store-name branding, Kirkland Signature occasionally employs co-branding. According to Costco, while consumers may be wary of same-store branding, they are less likely to be wary of brands that they are familiar with and trust.

Business and Financial Drivers

Competition

Costco faces competition from low cost traditional retailers like WalMart and Target. In the United States, where Costco has not established a presence BJ’s Wholesale Club is a competitor.

Risks

Costco has been slow to adapt to ECommerce.
Costco has a heavy concentration in California with 33% of US sales

Disclaimer: I do not have any formal recommendation for or against this stock, so don’t buy or sell stocks based solely on what you read.

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