Costco beats forecasts as Americans hunt for discounts

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Costco beats forecasts as Americans hunt for discounts

STORY: Costco beat forecasts over the latest quarter as American shoppers hunted for discounts.

First-quarter revenue rose 7.5% to over $62 billion.

Earnings per share also topped forecasts.

The membership-only retailer has seen strong demand for holiday products including furnishings and jewelry.

Costco ran pre-****** Friday sales in early November, in a bid to dodge any hit to sales from a late Thanksgiving weekend.

That left a relatively short 26 days before Christmas, cutting down the holiday shopping season.

Costco has been offering products including some electronics at big discounts to drive sales.

Some other U.S. retailers started doing promotions as early as October in anticipation of the shortened festive season.

******* rival Walmart has been cutting prices, and raised its annual sales and profit forecast in November for a third time this year.

Analysts say that suggests U.S. consumer demand remains robust.

Costco also benefited from a hike in its membership fees over the latest quarter, driving earnings from the charges to almost $1.2 billion.

Shares in the firm are up around a half this year, and gained almost 1% in U.S. after-hours trade on Thursday.

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