Jan 9, 2026, 05:17 EST — Premarket
- Costco shares jumped in the prior session after a December sales update.
- Online-linked sales outpaced the chain’s overall growth rate in the month.
- U.S. jobs data due Friday could set the tone for consumer-facing stocks.
Costco Wholesale Corp’s (COST.O) shares rose 3.7% on Thursday to $915.31 after the warehouse retailer reported December sales results.
The monthly report matters because it lands between earnings and can quickly reset expectations for traffic, pricing and renewal-driven demand. Costco’s numbers are also watched as a bellwether for big-box retailers including Walmart and Target, and for warehouse rival BJ’s Wholesale Club.
The move shows how tightly investors are trading the story right now. Costco has been priced for steady growth, so any sign that sales are bending — up or down — can swing the stock hard.
Costco said net sales rose 8.5% to $29.86 billion in the five-week retail month ended Jan. 4, with comparable sales — sales at stores open at least a year — up 7.0% overall. Digitally-enabled comparable sales, which include orders tied to online and other digital channels, climbed 18.9%; excluding gasoline prices and currency swings, total comparable sales rose 6.2%, the company said. Costco said it operates 923 warehouses worldwide and will post a recorded message discussing the sales figures through Jan. 14.
“December sales provide a measure of relief, confirming a reacceleration in sales at a pace that are clearly gaining share,” Evercore ISI analyst Greg Melich wrote in a note on Thursday. Barron’s
Jefferies analyst Corey Tarlowe described the monthly sales print as a positive sign for the durability of Costco’s membership model, according to Seeking Alpha.
Macro risks are still sitting on the tape. The U.S. employment report is due at 8:30 a.m. ET, and economists expect payroll gains of about 60,000 in December with the unemployment rate seen edging down to 4.5%, a Reuters poll showed.
But the downside case has not gone away: Costco’s valuation leaves less margin for error if growth slows after the holidays or if costs bite. Some investors have also talked up the possibility of a stock split or another special dividend — Costco last paid a special dividend in early 2024 — but those are not company announcements and can fade quickly when the data softens.
The next hard catalyst is earnings. Costco is expected to report fiscal second-quarter results on March 5, with investors watching renewal trends, margins and whether online growth keeps outrunning store sales.
