Costco Doesn't Have a Long-Term Coronavirus Problem

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ: COST) reported fiscal second-quarter 2020 results earlier this month. Investors are used to positive same-store sales (comps), with annual increases going back more than a decade. The second quarter continued the trend, with comps rising 7.9% when excluding foreign exchange translations and gas sales.

The report also indicated there is quite a bit going on at Costco. While the timing of the Thanksgiving holiday (which occurred a week later in this fiscal year versus a year ago) boosted comps by 0.5%, overall sales were still strong even when stripping this special circumstance out. There were, however, other forces outside of Costco's control that affected sales last month that were also addressed in the report. While these helped boost near-term results, there could be a negative effect over time. Let's take a closer look at how the novel coronavirus outbreak might impact Costco short term and long term.

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Source Fool.com