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Not if, but when.
Those words carry certainty, except for the lack of a specific time frame. The phrase could frustrate people who really want to know when exactly is when.
Take the case of big-box membership-based retailer Costco (COST) , which reported fiscal-second-quarter earnings on March 7.
The Issaquah, Wash., company has added more than $100 billion in value since the lows of October last year, driven in part by resilient consumer spending on discretionary items and expanding membership fees.
The shares had hit a record early in Thursday's session, ahead of the earnings report, which came after the market closed. At last check, however, Costco's shares were sliding 6.2% to $736.72.
Joe Feldman of Telsey Advisory Group told Yahoo Finance it “makes sense it would take a pause” after the “stock has been on fire lately.”
“The stock also has a history of taking a breather when it reports financial news. We are not concerned, given the business remains quite solid, as evidenced by the [comparisons] trend," he said.
The company posted adjusted second-quarter earnings of $3.71 a share, up from $3.30 a year earlier. Revenue totaled $58.44 billion, compared with the year-ago tally of $55.3 billion.
Analysts surveyed by FactSet were expecting Costco to earn $3.63 a share on sales of $59.20 billion.
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CFO Galanti: 'Not on my watch'
Same-store sales, excluding gasoline and foreign exchange, climbed 5.8%. In the U.S. same-store-sales growth was stronger than expected at 4.8%
In addition, Costco reported membership-fee revenue of $1.11 billion, up $84 million, or 8.2%, from a year earlier.
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The company has not raised its membership fees since 2017, prompting many retail analysts to wonder when Costco will get around to boosting this critical source of revenue.
Costco currently charges $60 for a Gold membership and $120 for Executive, which offers a 2% cash rebate on all Costco purchases made that year.
Anyone looking for an answer to the question of "when will Costco raise membership prices?" were probably disappointed after the company's earnings call with analysts.
During the call, Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti stuck with the familiar "not if, but when" line.
"We like the fact that we're performing well," said Galanti, who is stepping down down from his position later this month. "We like the fact that all -- most all metrics are going in the right direction in our business right now. We've got plenty of runway left."