ISSAQUAH, Wash. — Costco Wholesale Corp. on Thursday reported that net sales for its fiscal second quarter increased 6.5%, to $54.24 billion, up from $50.94 billion last year. Despite the gain, the company’s stock fell in after hours trading because the increase was below analysts’ forecasts.

Comparable sales for the 12-week period ended February 12 were also up, increasing 5.7% in the United States and 5.2% for the company as a whole. Comparable e-commerce sales fell by 9.6%, a decline that chief financial officer Richard Galanti attributed to reduced demand for big-ticket discretionary items.

“I’m not an economist,” Gilanti said in a conference call. “But I think it’s a combination of the economy and concerns out there as well as particularly strong numbers that we enjoyed not only a year ago but a year prior to that with COVID that we, of course, benefited in big ways with those big-ticket items.”

Net income for the quarter was $1,466 million, $3.30 per diluted share. Last year’s second-quarter net income was $1,299 million, $2.92 per diluted share. Net income for the first 24 weeks was $2.83 billion, or $6.37 per diluted share, compared to $2.62 billion, $5.90 per diluted share, last year.

For the four-week reporting month of February, ended February 26, 2023, Costco reported net sales of $17.06 billion, an increase of 4.7% from $16.29 billion last year. The company notes that the lunar New Year/Chinese New Year occurred on January 22, 10 days earlier this year. The shift positively impacted February’s “other international” and “total company” sales by approximately 2% and 0.25%, respectively. For the twenty-six week period ended February 26, 2023, net sales were $116.06 billion, an increase of 7.1% from $108.39 billion last year.

Costco noted that it finished the quarter with 848 warehouse clubs, including 584 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 107 in Canada, 40 in Mexico, 31 in Japan, 29 in the United Kingdom, 18 in Korea, 14 in Taiwan, 14 in Australia, four in Spain, two each in France and China, and one each in Iceland, New Zealand and Sweden. Costco also operates e-commerce sites in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Korea, Taiwan, Japan and Australia.