Costco Announces Special $7 Dividend: Hot Trends

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Popular searches on the Internet include Costco (COST) as the warehouse retailer said it is planning a special dividend of $7 a share next month.

The company said the dividend will be payable on Dec. 18 to shareholders of record Dec. 10. It will be in addition to its regular quarterly dividend of 27.5 cents a share, which will be paid Nov. 30 to shareholders of record Nov. 16.

Costco also reported November revenue that climbed nearly 9% to $8.15 billion. Sales for the month at stores open at least a year rose 6%, beating analysts' expectations of a rise of 5.4%. Excluding effects of higher gasoline prices and dollar weakness, Costco said its November same-store sales increased 5%.

Due to expectations that tax rates on dividends will spike in 2013, many companies are announcing special one-time dividends that will pay out by the end of this year.

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Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR) is trending after the company forecast quarterly and full-year earnings above analysts' expectations.

Green Mountain reported profit of $101 million, or 64 cents a share, on revenue of $946.7 million for its fiscal fourth quarter. Analysts were expecting earnings of 48 cents a share on revenue of $902.7 million.

Looking ahead, Green Mountain said it expects to earn 62 cents to 67 cents a share for its first quarter on an adjusted basis, with net sales increasing 14% to 18%. . This is the period when many holiday recipients of Keurig machines will turn into K-cup customers.

Green Mountain makes the Keurig brewing system and corresponding K-cups. It is currently in the leader in the U.S. market for single-serve coffee.

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Facebook (FB) is another popular search. The online social network has added Apple iTunes digital gift cards to its Gifts service.

Now, Facebook users can send their friends iTunes credits worth $10, $15, $25 or $50 for purchases in the iTunes store. Actual music, movies, TV shows or apps cannot be gifted to users' friends, but they can recommend to the gift recipients that they use the dollar amounts towards certain items.

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The chatter on Main Street (a.k.a. Google, Yahoo! and other search sites) is always of interest to investors on Wall Street. Thus, each day, TheStreet compiles the stories that are trending on the Web, and highlights the news that could make stocks move.

-- Written by Brittany Umar.

Brittany joined TheStreet.com TV in November 2006 after completing a degree in Journalism and Media Studies at Rutgers College. Previously, Brittany interned at the local ABC affiliate in New York City WABC-TV 7 where she helped research and produce On Your Side, a popular consumer advocacy segment.