05:42 AM EST, 03/08/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Costco Wholesale ( COST ) shares were down early Friday as the warehouse chain's overall revenue for the fiscal second quarter fell short of market estimates.

Net income advanced to $3.92 per share for the quarter ended Feb. 18 from $3.30 a year earlier, the company said late Thursday, topping the Capital IQ-polled consensus of $3.61. Sales rose 5.7% to $57.33 billion, while total revenue increased to $58.44 billion from $55.27 billion. The Street's forecast was for revenue of $59.13 billion.

"Net sales were negatively impacted by approximately 1.5% in the US and worldwide from the shift of the fiscal calendar as a result of the 53-week 2023 fiscal year," Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti said during an earnings call on Thursday, according to a Capital IQ transcript. Shares of the retailer have gained more than 20% so far this year, but slid almost 5% in recent Friday premarket activity.

Comparable sales rose 5.6% in the quarter, higher than the 4.7% growth modeled by analysts. The metric increased 4.3% in the US, 9.2% in Canada and 8.6% internationally. The company's traffic, or shopping frequency, increased by 5.3% globally and 4.3% in the US, while average transaction edged up 0.3% and 0.1% worldwide and in the US, respectively, according to Galanti.

"Foreign currencies relative to the US dollar positively impacted sales by approximately 0.2%, while gasoline price deflation negatively impacted sales by approximately 0.4% minus," Galanti told analysts. E-commerce comparable sales jumped about 18%, driven by robust demand for gold and silver bullions, as well as appliances and gift cards.

Costco ended the second quarter with 73.4 million paid household members and 132 million cardholders, both reflecting annual gains of more than 7%, Galanti said on the call. The US and Canada renewal rate came in at 92.9%, up 0.1% from the previous three-month period, while the worldwide rate remained flat sequentially at 90.5%.

Gross margin expanded by 8 basis points to 10.8%. Merchandise costs widened to $51.14 billion from $48.42 billion in the prior-year quarter. Selling, general and administrative expenses rose to $5.24 billion from $4.94 billion.