Costco Reports Flat April Same-Store Sales, Shares Dip 1.7%

Shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation COST were trading lower by more than 1 percent early Thursday after the company reported its April sales data.

Costco said that its total net sales for the month of April rose 3 percent year-over-year to $8.98 billion. However, comparable sales for the four-week period were flat. By region, U.S. same-store sales were flat, Canada gained 2 percent and the "Other International" segment saw a 3 percent decline.

Related Link: An Interesting Retail Pair Trade: Costco Outperform, Wal-Mart Underperform

Excluding the negative impacts from gasoline prices, deflation and foreign exchange, same-store sales would have risen 3 percent for the entire company.

At time of writing, Costco shares were down 1.66 percent in Thursday's pre-market hours.