Costco tops sales estimates as shoppers return to stores

Membership-only retail chain Costco Wholesale Corp (COST.O) beat Wall Street estimates for quarterly sales on Thursday, helped by strong demand for high-margin items, such as jewelry and home furnishing goods, as customers returned to its stores.

The warehouse retail chain has benefited from shoppers returning to its stores to buy everything from groceries to sporting goods with their stimulus checks as COVID-19 pandemic-driven restrictions ease.

Comparable sales, excluding the impact…