Costco Tops EPS Estimates, Up on Tuesday

Costco

is up Tuesday after comfortably topping the Wall Street consensus on EPS for Q2 FY 2013. The Issaquah, Washington-based company finished with an EPS of $1.24 - up nearly 38 percent year-over-year. This figure also blew away analysts' expectations of $1.06 per share. Revenue finished eight percent higher year-over-year at $24.34 billion. However, it came in below the Wall Street consensus of $25.05 billion.

Comparable sales in the US rose five percent during the second quarter. Internationally, this figure rose six percent.

Costco plans to open 14 new locations by the end of fiscal year 2013.

In February, jeweler Tiffany & Co.

sued Costco. The lawsuit claimed that Costco had been selling counterfeit diamond engagement rings by promoting them as “Tiffany” rings, despite having no connection to the company. The specific allegations included “trademark infringement, dilution, counterfeiting, unfair competition, injury to business reputation, false and deceptive business practices and false advertising.”

, Costco has admitted to selling the rings, but only with the commonly defined “Tiffany setting.” Costco claims the word “Tiffany” is actually a generic term and that the rings are unbranded. And, Costco has delivered a few jabs of its own. According to Rapaport, Costco has asked the court to “prevent the jeweler from ever again asserting false claims of its right to exclude use of Tiffany as a generic term for style or type of ring setting.” Also, Costco is pressing for court-ordered changes to the federal trademark registration Tiffany's is using as evidence, as notes Rapaport. Costco's attorneys claim the wholesale giant did not need permission to use Tiffany as a generic term, according to the story.

Interestingly, Costco's CEO Craig Jelinek has come out

. And, while the knee-jerk reaction may be to conclude that he's shooting himself in the foot, supporters of Obama's plan have quickly latched on to this prominent endorsement. However, the move may very well be a stab against the company‘s competitors. Costco is widely considered to be the top paying employer of its kind in that it pays low-skilled workers more than the competition. In fact, its average sales assistant makes

, according to Glassdoor. This compares to the average of

for Wal-Mart sales associates and

for sales-floor personnel at Target. Thus, a federal minimum wage hike wouldn't impact Costco much, if at all. However, it would raise expenses (and thus prices) for the likes of Target and Wal-Mart, which would naturally benefit Costco.

Costco has traded in the low $100s throughout 2013 thus far and continues to do so on Tuesday. The stock is up around one percent on the positive earnings release.