Warehouse retailer Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) reported its results for the first quarter of fiscal year 2015 on December 10. The membership-only warehouse club Costco is the largest of its kind in the U.S. It provides quality products at the lowest possible price on the more than 3700 items in stock. With 72 million members and warehouses located in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, the U.K., Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Australia, Costco attests to its popularity on the international wholesale market. An aggressive expansion plan to increase reach in areas where peers have minimal presence coupled with strides Costco is making in the ecommerce space have definitely improved its prospects, which could easily translate into stock gains.
An analysis of past-quarter results
A couple of things that formed the highlight of the earnings call were growth in sales and the benefits reaped from the declining gasoline prices, both of which have contributed significantly towards a profit that rose almost 17% this quarter from same period last year. The sales saw solid upward movement with an increase of 7% to come in just shy of $27 billion.
Also, the company has found itself in a happy situation with the fall of the average national price of gasoline to $2.66 a gallon. First, because being one of the nation
