Costco (NASDAQ: COST) stock has been a steady performer for investors this year. Shares have stayed ahead of the market rally so far in 2023 while beating rival retailers (NYSE: WMT) and Target (NYSE: TGT). The warehouse giant has a lot going for it as a business, including steady earnings that flow from subscription fees. Wall Street is also thrilled to see Costco's renewal rates holding at record highs.

The company's late August sales update added some fresh data for investors to parse ahead of the retailer's Q4 earnings report, due out on Sept. 26. Let's look at some of the key takeaways from that report to see whether Costco is maintaining its positive momentum as it closes out its fiscal 2023 year.

At a glance, Costco's demand trends seemed to slow slightly. Comparable-store sales were up 4.1% in August, compared with 5% in the prior month. Zooming out, we see that comps were up 5.2% for the full fiscal year that ended in late August. Walmart enjoyed slightly faster growth in recent weeks, as its comps were up 6.4% in the core U.S. market last quarter.

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Source Fool.com