Illustrative file photo: A Costco warehouse exterior, November 2021. Photo: Jacob Blanck via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY SA 4.0. Image previews may be cropped or resized. The photograph remains under the same license.
What the release says
Costco reported fiscal fourth quarter net sales of $93.9 billion, up 11.2%, on September 24, 2026. Total comparable sales excluding gasoline price and currency effects rose 6.7%. Diluted earnings were $6.75 per share, including a $0.15 benefit linked to tariff refunds after partial reinvestment in member value.
Reported context: Costco fiscal fourth quarter and full year results, September 24, 2026.
Total sales and comparable sales differ
Total sales include the effect of a changing store base. Comparable sales offer a narrower view of established operations, while adjustment for gasoline and currency helps isolate other commercial changes. None of these measures should replace the others.
For a retailer, the next question is whether growth comes from more visits, larger baskets or higher prices. Those patterns have different consequences for customer loyalty and operating costs. A headline percentage cannot identify the mix by itself.
Read the earnings benefit carefully
A temporary refund should not be treated as a permanent addition to annual earning power. Equally, reinvesting some of that benefit in customer value can affect the timing of reported profit. Keep the reported result separate from any analytical normalization.
Investors should assess whether sales momentum can support expenses without depending on the same unusual item in future quarters. That requires more than mechanically multiplying one quarter of earnings by four.
What to watch next
Monitor comparable sales, membership economics and expansion spending together. A business can add locations successfully while still generating a lower return on each additional dollar invested. The objective is to establish the durability of growth, not to infer that a strong operating release guarantees a positive stock return.
Sources and context
Analysis prepared on October 12, 2026. Figures and schedules refer to the dated company or industry announcements cited above. The questions and scenarios are FOLITIC analysis.
