We recently published a list of Jim Cramer Says You Should Buy These 10 Stocks. Since Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) ranks 6th on the list, it deserves a deeper look.
Jim Cramer last week talked about the decline of tech stocks after the latest CPI report, saying investors “abandoned” tech stocks like “rats from the sinking ship.”
“It was titanic! They took their money and went all in on small and medium-sized companies we call the Russell 2000 because we got a much softer than expected consumer price index.”
Cramer said that the latest CPI number shows inflation “has been beaten” and interest rates are “coming down.” The CNBC host said if we keep getting positive data, he won’t be surprised to see not one but two or three rate cuts this year.
Cramer wondered how major tech companies could fall on the low inflation numbers, and answered his own question by saying that sometimes in the backdrop of lower bond yields stocks of companies that “need lower rates” can suddenly rise.
“What happened today always happens when rates plunged,” Cramer said.
However, Cramer said that there isn’t enough positive data available yet to keep supporting this rally of stocks that benefit from lower rates, adding that such short-term rallies last for about three days. Cramer predicted that big tech stocks will be back after a “few more plunging days.”
For this article we watched several latest programs of Jim Cramer and picked 10 stocks he’s bullish on. With each company we have mentioned the number of hedge fund investors. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).
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Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 65
Jim Cramer in a latest program talked about Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) membership fee hike, saying it’s significant because the company had planned not to raise its fees “until they saw inflation under control.”
Cramer said that Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) is the “first line of defense on deflation” followed by Walmart.
“Congratulations to Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) for not gouging, for doing great things. Fantastic job!” Cramer said.
Costco recently reported a 7.4% increase in monthly net sales for June to $24.48 billion, compared to $22.78 billion in the prior year. Analysts believe the latest membership fee hike won’t impact Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) negatively amid a loyal customer base. Costco has over 74.5 million paying memberships and a renewal rate of 90.5% In May the company posted fiscal third quarter results. Despite massive inflation, the company’s results were upbeat as it beat estimates on both revenue and EPS. Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) saw a 6.1% increase in comparable foot traffic, while maintaining a remarkably low shrink rate of under 0.2%, which is one-tenth of the industry average. The value for money Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) offers is making customers flock to its executive membership, which costs almost double the regular membership. The company had 34.5 million paid executive memberships, an increase of 661,000 on a sequential basis. Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) executive members now represent over 46% of paid members and 73.1% of worldwide sales.
As consumers continue to look for better prices and inflation is far from over, Costco is expected to keep growing. Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) is also a strong dividend payer, with about two decades of consistent dividend increases.
Madison Sustainable Equity Fund stated the following regarding Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) in its fourth quarter 2023 investor letter:
“Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) reported solid holiday results and announced a special dividend of $15 per share. Earnings were better than expected driven by better gross margin. Same store sales were 3.9% with solid traffic. Costco also noted better discretionary trends and solid seasonal sales.”
Overall, Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) ranks 6th on Insider Monkey’s list titled Jim Cramer Says You Should Buy These 10 Stocks. While we acknowledge the potential of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST), our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than COST but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.