Costco Says Late Thanksgiving Weekend ‘Negatively Impacted’ Online Sales [Video]

Costco (COST) said its e-commerce sales in November were hit as this year’s Thanksgiving weekend happened a week later this year versus the last one, affecting year-over-year comparisons.

The popular wholesaler said that November e-commerce sales were “negatively impacted by an estimated 15 percentage points” by Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday happening a week later than last year.

This year, the five-day period from Thanksgiving Day to Cyber Monday occurred from Nov. 28 to Dec. 2. Last year, it fell firmly in November, from the 23rd to the 27th. 

Costco said that its total and comparable sales “were negatively impacted by approximately one and one-half percent as a result of the shift in E-commerce sales.”

Still, Rupesh Parikh, an analyst at Oppenheimer, called Costco a “top pick,” adding that the brokerage sees a potential stock split by the wholesaler as “positive catalyst.”

“From here, we believe continued strong performance in …