Why Costco may be the envy of Walmart

Despite reporting ho-hum sales for July, Costco said Thursday that its comps for the fourth quarter and fiscal year were up an impressive 6%.

The company reported results from August, the fourth quarter and fiscal 2015 on Thursday that were more-than-good enough for a company waging battle in an ever-competitive sector.

Costco said that in August, the company had net sales of $8.7 billion, which is down about 1% from the $8.8 billion in the same month last year.However, net sales were up about 1 percent for Q4 and up 3% for the entire fiscal year. For the entire year, Costco’s net sales were up 3% over 2014 at $113.7 billion.

In terms of comps, the company’s U.S. operations gained 1% in August, 6% in Q4 and 6% for fiscal 2015 over the same periods in 2014.

The company noted that with Labor Day coming a week later this year, pre-sales didn’t bein in August and that had a lowering effect on net sales of about 1%.

Unlike traditional retailers, Costco’s primary source of profit is new membership fees, not sales. Still, it is growing sales much faster than some competitors. Walmart reported a 1.5% increase in same store sales in its last quarter.

Costco currently operates 686 warehouses, including 480 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 89 in Canada, 36 in Mexico, 27 in the United Kingdom, 23 in Japan, 12 in Korea, 11 in Taiwan, seven in Australia and one in Spain. The company plans to open up to an additional 14 new warehouses (including two relocations) before the end of calendar year 2015. Costco also operates electronic commerce web sites in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom and Mexico.