Costco, Missing Shoppers, Can't Get a 'Buy'

In addition to an Internet sales operation, Costco currently operates 553 warehouse stores, including 406 in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, 76 in Canada, 21 in the U.K., six in Korea, five in Taiwan, eight in Japan and 31 in Mexico. It plans to open an additional 10 to 11 new warehouse stores before the end of fiscal 2009.

Costco's net sales for the second quarter of fiscal 2009 declined 1% to $16.49 billion from $16.62 billion a year earlier. Net income was $239.7 million, or 55 cents per diluted share, compared with $327.9 million, or 74 cents.

COSTCO IS CLOSE TO A 'BUY' Company COSTCO WHOLESALE Ticker COST Industry Food & Staples Retailing TheStreet.com Ratings Reward Grade B TheStreet.com Ratings Risk Grade D+ TheStreet.com Ratings Overall Grade C+ TheStreet.com Ratings Recommendation Hold Recent price 42.34 Market Cap ($Mil.) 18,343.6 Total Assets ($Mil.) 20,682.3 Total Debt ($Mil.) 2,346.4 Latest Fisc. Yr. Revenue ($Mil.) 72,483.0 Cash Flow from Operations ($Mil.) 2,176.2 Earnings Before Interest & Taxes ($Mil.) 1,984.7 3-Yr. EPS Ann'l Growth Rate (%) 31.7 EPS - Latest Fiscal Year 2.89 EPS - Curr. Year Consensus 2.66 EPS - Next Yr. Consensus 2.97 Price/Book Ratio 2.1x Ret'n on Equity (%) 14.5 P/E - Current Year 15.9x P/E - Next Year 14.3x Dividend Yield (%) 1.51 Source: TheStreet.com Ratings (Data as of 2/27/2009) For an explanation of our ratings, click here.