Costco Wholesale : Wholesale Corporation Reports Third Quarter and Year-to-Date Operating Results for Fiscal 2015

ISSAQUAH, WA--(Marketwired - May 27, 2015) - Costco Wholesale Corporation ("Costco" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: COST) announced today its operating results for the third quarter (twelve weeks) and first thirty-six weeks of fiscal 2015, ended May 10, 2015.

Net sales for the quarter increased one percent, to $25.52 billion, from $25.23 billion last year. Net sales for the first thirty-six weeks increased four percent, to $78.67 billion, from $75.46 billion last year.

Comparable sales for the twelve-week and thirty-six-week periods were as follows:

Comparable sales for these periods, excluding negative impacts from gasoline price deflation and foreign exchange, were as follows:

Net income for the quarter was $516 million, or $1.17 per diluted share, compared to $473 million, or $1.07 per diluted share, last year. Net income for the thirty-six weeks was $1.61 billion, or $3.64 per diluted share, compared to $1.36 billion, or $3.07 per diluted share, last year. Net income for the thirty-six-week period was positively impacted by a $57 million ($0.13 per diluted share) tax benefit in connection with a second quarter special cash dividend to the extent received by the Company 401(k) plan participants; and was negatively impacted by a $14 million ($0.03 per diluted share) second quarter tax charge relating to an ongoing income tax matter.

Costco currently operates 673 warehouses, including 474 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 89 in Canada, 35 in Mexico, 26 in the United Kingdom, 20 in Japan, 11 in Korea, 10 in Taiwan, seven in Australia and one in Spain. The Company plans to open up to an additional 15 new warehouses (including one relocation to a larger and better-located facility) prior to the end of its fiscal year on August 30, 2015. Costco also operates electronic commerce web sites in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom and Mexico.

A conference call to discuss these third quarter operating results is scheduled for 8:00 a.m. (PT) tomorrow, May 28, 2015, and is available via a webcast on www.costco.com (click on Investor Relations and "Play Webcast").

Certain statements contained in this document constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. For these purposes, forward-looking statements are statements that address activities, events, conditions or developments that the Company expects or anticipates may occur in the future. Such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual events, results or performance to differ materially from those indicated by such statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, domestic and international economic conditions, including exchange rates, the effects of competition and regulation, uncertainties in the financial markets, consumer and small business spending patterns and debt levels, breaches of security or privacy of member or business information, conditions affecting the acquisition, development, ownership or use of real estate, capital spending, actions of vendors, rising costs associated with employees (including health care costs), energy and certain commodities, geopolitical conditions, and other risks identified from time to time in the Company's public statements and reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and we do not undertake to update these statements, except as required by law.