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Costco reports record holiday sales and stronger than expected Q1 results
The ‘Barron’s Roundtable’ panel discusses big-box retailers beating competition on value, their innovation and revenue models.
Costco Wholesale is moving through the holiday season with momentum, unveiling a string of record-breaking sales that helped drive a stronger-than-expected first quarter.
During the retail giant’s Q1 2026 earnings call Thursday, CFO Gary Millerchip pointed to a few “fun facts about the holiday selling season so far,” including unprecedented pizza, pie and e-commerce sales.
Holiday sales highlights:
Halloween
Approximately 358,000 whole pizzas were served at Costco’s U.S. food courts, a 31% jump from last year.
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A Costco store in Bayonne, N.J., Dec. 9, 2023 (Angus Mordant/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Thanksgiving
About 4.5 million pies were sold in the three days before Thanksgiving, which is equivalent to roughly 7,000 pies per warehouse.
Black Friday
Costco had more than $250 million in non-food online orders on Black Friday, a record for Costco’s U.S. e-commerce business.
COSTCO RECALLS POPULAR READY-TO-EAT FOOD ITEMS OVER PLASTIC CONTAMINATION CONCERNS
Signs listing prices at Costco food court in Danville, Calif., July 3, 2022. (Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images / Getty Images)
Costco on Thursday beat Wall Street’s expectations for first-quarter revenue and profit, according to Reuters.
The company reported revenue of $67.31 billion, slightly above the expected $67.14 billion. Earnings came in at $4.50 per share, topping estimates of $4.27, Reuters reported.
“Costco’s latest results are strong and could be a reflection of how consumers are shopping for the holiday season,” Greg Zakowicz, e-commerce and retail advisor to marketing platform Omnisend, told Reuters.
“Shoppers are not ignoring budgets but are looking to stretch their dollar further, and this is an area Costco helps with.”
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Customers lined up at checkout counters in a busy Costco store in Queens, N.Y. (Lindsey Nicholson/UCG/Universal Images Group / Getty Images)
The retail giant’s stock dipped slightly after hours to $877.71, according to Reuters.
Costco is also suing the federal government to block President Donald Trump’s emergency tariffs and recover the funds the retailer says it was improperly required to pay for imported goods.
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FOX Business’ Greg Wehner contributed to this report.
