Costco Wholesale Corporation Reports January Sales Results

ISSAQUAH, WA--(Marketwired - Feb 4, 2015) - Costco Wholesale Corporation ("Costco" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: COST) today reported net sales of $8.16 billion for the month of January, the four weeks ended February 1, 2015, an increase of two percent from $7.99 billion during the similar period last year.

For the twenty-two weeks ended February 1, 2015, the Company reported net sales of $49.01 billion, an increase of six percent from $46.32 billion during the similar period last year.

Comparable sales for the four and twenty-two week periods were as follows:

		4 Weeks		22 Weeks
U.S.		2%		5%
International		-4%		-1%
Total Company		0%		3%

Comparable sales for these periods, excluding negative impacts from gasoline price deflation and foreign exchange, were as follows:

		4 Weeks		22 Weeks
U.S.		7%		7%
International		6%		7%
Total Company		7%		7%

Additional discussion of these results is available in a pre-recorded telephone message. The recording can be accessed by dialing 1-855-859-2056 (conference ID 81347806). This message will be available today through 5:00 p.m. (PT) February 6, 2015.

The Company plans to release its operating results for the second quarter (12 weeks) of fiscal 2015 ending February 15, 2015, as well as February sales results, on March 5, 2015. A conference call to discuss these results is scheduled for 8:00 a.m. (PT) that day and will be available via webcast on www.costco.com (click on Investor Relations and "webcasts").

Costco currently operates 671 warehouses, including 474 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 88 in Canada, 34 in Mexico, 26 in the United Kingdom, 20 in Japan, 11 in Korea, 10 in Taiwan, seven in Australia and one in Spain. Costco also operates electronic commerce web sites in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom and Mexico.

Certain statements contained in this document and the pre-recorded telephone message constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. For these purposes, forward-looking statements are statements that address activities, events, conditions or developments that the Company expects or anticipates may occur in the future. Such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual events, results or performance to differ materially from those indicated by such statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, domestic and international economic conditions, including exchange rates, the effects of competition and regulation, uncertainties in the financial markets, consumer and small business spending patterns and debt levels, breaches of security or privacy of member or business information, conditions affecting the acquisition, development, ownership or use of real estate, capital spending, actions of vendors, rising costs associated with employees (including health care costs), energy and certain commodities, geopolitical conditions, and other risks identified from time to time in the Company's public statements and reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and we do not undertake to update these statements, except as required by law.