Costco misses quarterly estimates as online sales ease

Costco Wholesale Corp. late Thursday reported lower-than-expected profit and sales for its fiscal third quarter as online sales growth eased.

Costco $(COST)$ said it earned $1.22 billion, or $2.75 a share, in the quarter, compared with $838 million, or $1.89 a share, in the year-ago quarter.

Net sales for the quarter increased 22% to $44.4 billion, from $36.45 billion a year ago.

Analysts polled by FactSet had expected the retailer to report a GAAP profit of $2.32 a share on sales of $44.7 billion.

Same-store sales rose 21%, and online sales rose 41%, the company said. At the height of pandemic-fueled stockpiling, Costco online sales soared, including a 65% jump in the third quarter of 2020.

Shares of Costco fell 0.83% in the extended session after ending the regular trading day up 0.5%, The stock has gained 2.9% so far this year, compared with gains of around 12% for the S&P 500 index .