The Long Term Investor

COST is down by 2.5%.....$26 a share....today. I am sure this is the reason.

Costco Posts 6.8% Sales Growth in May, Slightly Slower Than April

https://www.investopedia.com/costco-posts-may-sales-growth-slightly-slower-than-april-11748708

(BOLD is my opinion OR what I consider important content)

"Key Takeaways

• Costco reported a 6.8% increase in sales for the month of May compared to May 2024.
• Comparable store sales rose less than analysts had expected, according to a note from JPMorgan analysts.
• The analysts said cooler than average weather in May could have slowed sales, while purchases rushed by tariffs likely peaked in March and April.

Costco Wholesale (COST) after the bell Wednesday said that its sales in May grew 6.8% year-over-year to $20.97 billion, slightly slower growth than the 7% that it saw in April compared to April 2024.12

The warehouse retailer's comparable store sales rose 4.1% in the U.S., 4.3% for the total company, and online sales grew 11.6% in May. The 5.5% comparable sales increase in the U.S., when excluding the impact of gas prices and foreign exchange rates, came in below the 6.4% analyst consensus, JPMorgan analysts wrote following the sales report.3

The analysts wrote that Costco's sales results are in line with some other retailers that mentioned in recent earnings reports that May sales were weaker than April or March, largely due to weather—including a cooler-than-normal Memorial Day weekend in parts of the country. Costco said it doesn't typically cite weather as a factor unless there is an extreme weather event, per the analysts.

JPM Says Tariff-Motivated Purchases Likely Peaked in March, April

Any big purchases that consumers made ahead of schedule because of fears that tariffs would raise prices likely peaked in March and April, as executives said in last week's earnings call that they were seeing few tariff-motivated purchases at this point, according to the JPM analysts.

The analysts said Costco's comparable sales growth could be pressured in the next few months as Costco laps the popular sales of its gold bars, which frequently sold out quickly when they were available. The retailer narrowly beat estimates in its fiscal third-quarter report, as other analysts have said Costco is well-positioned to navigate the tariff environment.

Costco shares were little changed shortly ahead of markets opening, and are up nearly 15% since the start of the year but still just below record levels set in February."

MY COMMENT

Above is short term focus on a nice long term stock. SO....basically....WHO CARES.

 

I broke my little three day win streak today....with a good loss. I had only three stocks GREEN.....MSFT, GOOGL, and AMZN.

I also got whacked by the SP500 by.....1.05%. BUMMER.

 

TireSmoke.

I tried the calculator that I posted above. For a 40 year old male starting the income a month after purchase.....and....with a ten year certain time period.....the payout per year for life on a 1,000,000 Income annuity......$59,184.

On this sort of annuity I like the "ten year certain" option. That means that it will pay out for TEN YEARS even if the annuitant does not live for ten years. Any unused years of the ten...would go to your beneficiary. The cost of adding the ten year certain option is....peanuts.

It makes me feel better about buying a lifetime income annuity to know that regardless of my life span....it will pay for at least ten years and I or my beneficiary are guaranteed to get back more than half of the purchase funds.

OK....here is my actual info on my annuities....I spent $1.8MILLION. The start date was deferred for five years....to age 70. The Income covers me and/or my wife....whichever of us lives longer....for life. It has a "ten year certain" option. I have that money spread between six annuities with three companies. To get maximum coverage under the Texas Insurance Guarantee Fund....three are in my name with my wife as secondary annuitant and three are in my wife's name with me as the secondary annuitant.

ANNUAL pay-out.....$137,000....for the life of me or my wife.....whichever of us is the last to die. So with Social Security and a few other items....we have an income of approximately $200,000 per year for life. Of course we get the Social Security cost of living raises each year. AND....we have ZERO debt....an important part of our plan.

So with the "TEN YEAR CERTAIN" option....we were guaranteed at least ten years of payments.....$1,370,000.....even if we did not live for ten years after the annuities started to pay. These are SIMPLE INCOME ANNUITIES.

The nice thing about income annuities is income taxes...of that $137,000....the taxable portion for income taxes is about $44,000 per year.....the rest is considered return of principle and is not subject to income taxes. So our taxable income is less than $67,000 per year after the standard deduction.....even though our actual income is $200,000.

 

I corrected our "taxable income after the standard deduction" to $67,000 in the post above after looking at our tax return. This is a big feature of what I love about the income annuities.....our income tax bill is about $8000 per year.

 

I see from a good number of obscure sources that it has been announced that we now have a trade deal with China. Although all the sources that I see say that the details need to be put in writing and confirmed. The earliest sources are reporting this about 8-11 hours ago.

The only larger media source that I see reporting this is NEWSMAX.

Trump: 'We Have a Deal' in Agreement With China on Trade

https://www.newsmax.com/politics/china-trade-deal-call/2025/06/05/id/1213769/

"Repeating his read-out of his call with President Xi Jinping, President Donald Trump reiterated "we have a deal" with China on trade, albeit with the caveat the deal is an agreement in principle and there remains some t's to cross.

"I think we're in very good shape with China and the trade deal: We have a deal with China, as you know, but we were straightening out some of the points having to do mostly with rare-earth magnets and some other things," Trump said in an Oval Office press gaggle Thursday after releasing his Truth Social readout."

MY COMMENT

We will see if this stands....I think it will since both countries want to move on.

I also see reading between the lines of a few sources that we are very close with INDIA and also Vietnam.

We will see if what I am seeing is actually TRUTH.....or just......whatever.

 

I also heard that the winner of the Elon and Trump octagon-cage-match is contracted to take on ZUCK. In both matches there will be no rules and no referee.

A Federal building will be constructed for the matches....a scale version of the Flavian Amphitheatre in Rome. Numerous House and Senate fights will be on the under card.

 

I am off to Houston in about 20 minutes. So I will miss the whole day.

GET ME A GOOD CLOSE TO THE WEEK.