ISSAQUAH, WA--(Marketwired - May 4, 2016) - Costco Wholesale Corporation ("Costco" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: COST) today reported net sales of $8.98 billion for the month of April, the four weeks ended May 1, 2016, an increase of three percent from $8.74 billion during the similar period last year.

For the thirty-five weeks ended May 1, 2016, the Company reported net sales of $77.94 billion, an increase of two percent from $76.32 billion during the similar period last year.

Comparable sales for the four-week and thirty-five-week periods ended May 1, 2016, were as follows:

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

Additional discussion of these results is available in a pre-recorded telephone message. The recording can be accessed by dialing 1-855-859-2056 (conference ID 57695070). This message will be available today through 5:00 p.m. (PT) on Wednesday, May 11, 2016.

The Company plans to release its operating results for the third quarter (12 weeks) of fiscal 2016 ending May 8, 2016, after the close of business on May 25, 2016. A conference call to discuss these results is scheduled for 8:00 a.m. (PT) on May 26, 2016, and will be available via webcast on www.costco.com (click on Investor Relations and "webcasts").

Costco currently operates 705 warehouses, including 493 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 90 in Canada, 36 in Mexico, 27 in the United Kingdom, 25 in Japan, 12 in Korea, 12 in Taiwan, eight in Australia and two in Spain. Costco also operates electronic commerce web sites in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Korea and Taiwan.

Certain statements contained in this document and the pre-recorded telephone message 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 (generally 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.