Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ: COST) reported its fiscal 2023 first-quarter results on Dec. 8, with net sales up 8.1% and diluted earnings per share (EPS) up 3%. These figures are a significant slowdown compared to the consistent double-digit growth that investors have gotten accustomed to in recent years, particularly since the pandemic started. 

For a stock that has performed quite nicely over the past five years, crushing the broader market indexes, investors might now be inclined to sell on the softer financial report. But this might be the worst mistake that Costco shareholders could make as we wrap up 2022. 

Things have started to slow down, to be sure, as the company's latest numbers demonstrated. Richard Galanti, Costco's chief financial officer, pointed to a weakening economy. Discretionary purchases like consumer electronics and appliances, coupled with difficult comparisons from a year ago, deserve some blame here. 

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Source Fool.com