Costco Shares Up 2% After Fiscal Q3 Earnings Beat

Shares of Costco Wholesale Corp. rose 2% late Thursday after the company reported fiscal third quarter earnings above expectations and sales slightly below forecast. Costco said it earned $700 million, or $1.59 a share, in the quarter, compared with $545 million, or $1.24 a share, in the year-ago period. Revenue rose to 8% to $28.22 billion, from $26.15 billion last year. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected Costco to report adjusted earnings of $1.30 a share on sales of $28.6 billion. The company said its comparable-store sales rose 5% in the quarter. The analysts surveyed by FactSet had expected a rise of 4%. Shares ended the regular session Thursday up 1%.