Consumer Staples Merchandise Retail

Costco Wholesale reported 13% growth in September net sales, a strong start to fiscal 2027, with management highlighting broad-based gains across same-store sales, e-commerce operations and international clubs. Analysts flagged that part of the sales lift appears tied to one-off or lower-margin drivers that may weigh on profitability. The company runs large membership-only warehouse clubs across North America, Europe and Asia, and the September figures touch both its warehouse rollout story and the economics behind it. Strong same-store performance and online gains suggest recent capital spending is at least supporting higher volumes, though analyst comments on temporary fuel, pharmacy or promotional activity put pressure on the assumption that traffic converts into healthy profitability. The article was produced by Simply Wall St.

Walmart has officially opened its fifth high-tech fulfillment center, a 900,000 square foot facility in Stockton, California, that expands capacity for processing online orders and speeds shipping and delivery for customers across the West Coast. Walmart Fulfillment Services, the company's end-to-end third-party fulfillment service, will also use the space to fulfill items sold by merchants on Marketplace. The next-generation e-commerce center features advanced automation, technology and AI-powered systems, including a high-density storage and retrieval system that reduces the traditional 12-step fulfillment process to five steps, cutting repetitive manual tasks and increasing storage and order capacity compared with a traditional fulfillment center. Walmart said the Central Valley location adds significant fulfillment capacity closer to West Coast customers and takes pressure off other fulfillment centers in its network. Walmart operates four other next-gen fulfillment centers, in Joliet, Illinois; McCordsville, Indiana; Greencastle, Pennsylvania; and Lancaster, Texas, positioned to enable next-day or two-day shipping to 95% of the U.S. population. E-commerce sales now represent 23% of total sales at Walmart. In August, the company announced plans to build a sixth ultra-modern e-commerce logistics hub, covering 1.5 million square feet, in Carnesville, Georgia, with construction expected to begin towards the end of the year and a total investment in the project, including hiring, of $1.3 billion. Both the Stockton and Carnesville locations will employ more than 1,000 workers at full operation.

Costco Wholesale Corporation is drawing heightened investor attention, with its shares returning +5.1% over the past month versus the Zacks S&P 500 composite's +1.3% change. The company is expected to post earnings of $4.89 per share for the current quarter, a year-over-year change of +12.7%, and the Zacks Consensus Estimate has moved +1.4% over the last 30 days. For the current fiscal year, the consensus earnings estimate of $22.87 indicates a year-over-year change of +11.8%, while the next fiscal year's estimate of $24.94 points to a +9.1% change. Revenue forecasts show a consensus sales estimate of $73.99 billion for the current quarter, up +9.9% year over year, with $328.42 billion and $351.91 billion expected for the current and next fiscal years. Costco last reported revenues of $95.72 billion, a year-over-year change of +11.1%, with EPS of $6.6 versus $5.87 a year ago, and carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Bailian Group announced on October 9 that as of September 30, 2026, the company had repurchased a total of 10.52 million shares, accounting for 0.59% of its total share capital, with a total repurchase amount of 82.07 million yuan. The actual repurchase price range was 7.58 yuan to 8.13 yuan per share. In the first half of 2026, Bailian Group achieved revenue of 12.053 billion yuan and net profit attributable to the parent company of 913 million yuan.

Costco Wholesale Corporation reported net sales of $30.02 billion for the five weeks ended Oct. 4, 2026, a 13% increase from $26.58 billion a year earlier, accelerating from growth of 9.9% in August and 10.7% in July. Total comparable sales rose 11.4%, also an improvement from 8.4% in August and 8.9% in July, with U.S. comparable sales up 12.5%, Canada up 6.3% and Other International markets up 10.8%. Excluding gasoline price changes and foreign exchange fluctuations, total comparable sales advanced 7.6%, with the United States up 8%, Canada up 4.9% and Other International markets up 7.7%. Digitally enabled sales increased 19% year over year on a reported basis and 19.1% excluding foreign exchange fluctuations. The timing of Labor Day, which fell one week later than last year in the United States and Canada, benefited total and comparable sales by slightly more than 50 basis points.

Walmart has introduced Express Pickup, a service that lets Walmart+ members get eligible orders ready for curbside collection in as little as one hour, alongside a new in-store "Shop to Light" guidance feature. The move tightens the link between Walmart's app, rapid pickup and in-aisle navigation, deepening digital engagement at the start of the peak holiday shopping period. The company's narrative projects $839.4 billion in revenue and $29.5 billion in earnings by 2029, requiring 4.5% yearly revenue growth and about a $7.4 billion earnings increase from $22.1 billion today, with a fair value of $126.78 implying 17% upside to its current price. Fifteen members of the Simply Wall St Community currently see Walmart's fair value between US$65.80 and US$154.58. The expansion of Walmart Connect, framed as a high-margin incremental profit pool, could interact with any uplift in digital engagement, though ultra-fast fulfillment and last-mile logistics remain a risk to margins if they are hard to monetize.

Seven & i Holdings announced on the 8th its consolidated financial results for the interim period ending August 2026, reporting an operating profit of 232.2 billion yen, up 11.5% from the same period a year earlier. Its overseas convenience store business, which sells gasoline, performed strongly amid fluctuations in crude oil prices. Net profit rose 2.2% to 124.4 billion yen. Operating revenue, equivalent to sales, fell 2.8% to 5.4602 trillion yen, reflecting the deconsolidation of York Holdings and Seven Bank.

Seven & i Holdings announced on the 8th its consolidated interim results for the fiscal period ending August 2026, reporting operating profit of 232.2 billion yen, up 11.5% from the same period a year earlier. Amid fluctuations in crude oil prices, its overseas convenience store business, which sells gasoline, performed strongly. Net profit rose 2.2% to 124.4 billion yen. Operating revenue, equivalent to sales, fell 2.8% to 5.4602 trillion yen, reflecting the deconsolidation of York Holdings and Seven Bank.

Costco Wholesale Corporation reported net sales of $30.0B for the retail month of September, an increase of 13.0% from a year ago. Comparable sales for the five-week period that ended October 4 were up 11.4%, including a 12.5% increase in the U.S., a 6.3% rise in Canada, and a 10.8% gain for other international markets, while e-commerce comparable sales shot up 19.0% for the month. After stripping out the impact of foreign exchange and gas prices, comparable sales were up 7.6% during the month, including an increase of 8.0% in the U.S. The Issaquah, Washington-based company said a calendar shift from Labor Day, which occurred one week later this year in the U.S. and Canada, positively impacted September total and comparable sales by a little more than 50bps, and it pointed to category strength in sundries, frozen food, gas, housewares, gift cards, and the food court. Costco currently operates 939 warehouses, including 647 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 115 in Canada, 43 in Mexico, 37 in Japan, 29 in the United Kingdom, 20 in Korea, 15 in Australia, 14 in Taiwan, seven in China, five in Spain, three in France, two in Sweden, and one each in Iceland and New Zealand.

Costco Wholesale Corporation reported net sales of $30.02 billion for the retail month of September, the five weeks ended October 4, 2026, an increase of 13.0 percent from $26.58 billion last year. Total company comparable sales rose 11.4 percent for the five weeks, with U.S. comparable sales up 12.5 percent, Canada up 6.3 percent and other international up 10.8 percent. Excluding the impacts from changes in gasoline prices and foreign exchange, total company comparable sales increased 7.6 percent, with the U.S. up 8.0 percent, Canada up 4.9 percent and other international up 7.7 percent. Digitally-enabled sales increased 19.0 percent year-over-year, or 19.1 percent excluding foreign exchange. Costco said Labor Day in the U.S. and Canada occurred one week later this year, positively impacting September total and comparable sales by a little more than 50bps, and the company currently operates 939 warehouses.

Target is bringing its Simply Shabby Chic home line back to stores nationwide and Target.com starting October 11, reviving a partnership that first launched in 2004 and was quietly discontinued after two decades. The initial assortment of bedding, decorative pillows and throws will be followed by a holiday collection, with most items priced under $50. The return of Simply Shabby Chic is part of a broader strategy by the retailer to introduce more outside labels and increase sales for its in-house home furnishing and décor brand, Threshold. Target recently brought back designer Issac Mizrahi as the company's first-ever Creative Director at Large and launched a new collection from designer Rosie Assoulin. Shabby Chic was founded in 1989 by Rachel Ashwell and offered bedding and home goods with a romantic, relaxed, vintage aesthetic.

Target Corporation fulfilled nearly 30% more same-day and next-day units year over year in the second quarter of fiscal 2026, with same-day delivery rising more than 25% and helping drive an 8.7% increase in comparable digital sales. The retailer fulfills more than 95% of its sales through stores, and said overall inventory reliability metrics reached multiyear highs while availability of its most frequently purchased items was the strongest in recent years. Target is also using Proxima, its digital twin of the middle-mile inventory positioning system, to test inventory-flow plans before implementation. For comparison, Walmart U.S. e-commerce sales rose 24% in second-quarter fiscal 2027, with store-fulfilled delivery sales up more than 40% and fast delivery in the United States climbing 48%, while Dollar General said delivery contributed an estimated 40 basis points to comparable-sales growth in the second quarter of fiscal 2026. Target shares have rallied 16.6% over the past three months against the industry's 3% decline, and management raised fiscal 2026 sales and EPS guidance.

Walmart is expanding its Walmart Connect advertising unit so that advertisers can use its shopper data across live TV, streaming audio and connected TV. The retailer is partnering with Warner Bros. Discovery, Spotify and Yahoo to extend commerce media campaigns beyond its own properties, letting marketers programmatically activate Walmart shopper audiences and measure performance across those third party media platforms. Walmart Connect's advertising business is already framed as a roughly 70% margin business with incremental profit, and the company is trying to turn its shopper data and physical footprint into a media network that reaches far beyond its own apps and website. The clearest early signal for investors will be whether management breaks out more detail on Walmart Connect, such as ad revenue growth or advertiser count linked to the new partners, in upcoming quarterly updates.

Costco Wholesale Corporation's digitally enabled sales, including third-party delivery, exceeded $33 billion in fiscal 2026 and grew more than 20%. In the fourth quarter, digitally enabled comparable sales rose 19.5%, or 19.8% excluding foreign-exchange impacts, while e-commerce site and app traffic climbed 30%. Pharmacy, home furnishings, small electrics, hardware, housewares and domestics ranked among Costco's strongest digital sales categories, and the company is extending same-day availability through Uber Eats, DoorDash and Instacart, with management noting average delivery times under an hour and mostly incremental transactions. Personalized product placements and email communications generated triple-digit sales growth in the quarter, with 10% of Costco.com orders including a personalized item, and traffic from AI search grew at a triple-digit rate for the second straight quarter. For comparison, Walmart's global e-commerce sales rose 23% in second-quarter fiscal 2027 and accounted for 24% of total net sales, while Target's second-quarter fiscal 2026 comparable digital sales increased 8.7%.

Walmart's global advertising business grew 38% in the second quarter of fiscal 2027, with Walmart Connect up 43% and Walmart U.S. advertising, including VIZIO, also rising 38%. The gains came alongside 24% growth in Walmart U.S. e-commerce sales, reflecting strength in store-fulfilled delivery, advertising and marketplace. Walmart U.S. e-commerce achieved double-digit incremental margins in the first half of fiscal 2027, helped by strong advertising and membership revenues, greater delivery-network density, growth in fee-based fast deliveries and automation. The company also expanded its advertising capabilities through the acquisition of Vibe, which provides self-service tools and enables advertisers to measure results against shopping behavior. Walmart's forward 12-month price-to-earnings ratio stands at 33.82, above the industry's 30.74, and the Zacks Consensus Estimate implies current fiscal-year sales and earnings per share growth of 5.4% and 8.7%, respectively.

Walmart's China business generated $24.6 billion in sales in its past fiscal year, a 19.3% jump, with Sam's Club serving as the retailer's primary growth engine in the world's second-largest economy. China represents 3% of Walmart's overall business, but sales there grew 20.7% last quarter, far outpacing the 5.9% reported by the company as a whole, even as Chinese consumer-goods retail sales grew just 1.1% in the first eight months of the year. Sam's Clubs contribute about 70% of Walmart's revenue in China, according to Fitch Ratings senior director Cathy Chao, and the warehouse business has expanded from 15 clubs in 2016 to 67 in May, with 10.7 million members in China as of June each paying at least 260 yuan per year for a basic membership. Christina Zhu, who became Walmart China president and CEO in May 2020 as the first woman and first native Chinese person to hold the job, has made the business digital-first, with stores doubling as fulfillment centers and a cloud warehouse network delivering groceries in as little as 30 minutes. Walmart entered China in 1996 with a Supercenter and a Sam's Club in Shenzhen and has since closed underperforming stores to focus on Sam's Club and online offerings, now generating more revenue than in 2019 when its China footprint was at its largest.

Target Corporation is raising capital investments to strengthen its store network, supply chain and technology capabilities, expecting capital expenditures of approximately $5 billion in fiscal 2026. Through the first half, the retailer deployed about $2.4 billion in capital expenditures, up nearly 30% from a year ago, with spending directed toward new stores, full-store remodels and technology upgrades. Target opened 17 new stores in the second quarter, bringing the first-half total to 24, and had more than 100 full-store remodels underway, moving toward roughly 130 for the year, as stores handle more than 95% of the company's sales. The company is modernizing its technology foundation and has partnered with OpenAI, Google Gemini and other leading platforms as it explores agentic commerce, saying digital traffic sourced from external AI platforms is growing more than 3.5 times the industry rate versus a year ago. Target is also investing in Proxima, a digital twin of its middle-mile inventory positioning system, and said it fulfilled nearly 30% more same-day and next-day units in the second quarter than a year earlier. Separately, Walmart raised its fiscal 2027 capital expenditure outlook to about 4% of net sales from roughly 3.5% earlier, while Dollar General expects fiscal 2026 capital expenditures of $1.4-$1.5 billion and plans about 4,730 real-estate projects during the year.

Costco Wholesale Corporation lowered prices across several everyday Kirkland Signature items in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, reinforcing its private label as a member-value lever. Management said Kirkland Signature typically offers savings of at least 15%-20% versus national-brand equivalents while maintaining equal or better quality. KS Walnuts were reduced to $9.99 from $13.79, Colombian Whole Bean Coffee to $19.99 from $21.99, Dry Facial Towels to $18.99 from $19.99 and Coarse Black Pepper to $5.99 from $6.99. The value push was supported by tariff refunds: Costco received $184 million in the quarter, including $174 million in refunds and $10 million in interest, and management said it intends to reinvest the majority of additional tariff-refund dollars to enhance member value. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Costco's current fiscal-year sales and earnings per share implies year-over-year growth of 8.3% and 11.8%, respectively, and the estimate for current fiscal-year earnings has increased by 36 cents to $22.87 per share over the past 30 days.

Tisco Securities released an analysis of retail sector stocks, noting that same-store sales growth, or SSSG, improved by 0.9% in September, recovering from a contraction of 1.5% in July and 0.4% in August, driven by stockpiling of goods related to the flood situation as well as a recovery in fundamentals. It expects SSSG at 7-Eleven under CPALL to come in at positive 3%, while Makro under CPAXT is seen at positive 1.5% and Big C under BJC at positive 2%. Overall, SSSG in the third quarter of 2026 is expected to decline 0.3% under pressure from the high base effect of previous government economic stimulus measures, but strong operating results in September should partially offset the weakness in July and August. Tisco's research team recommends BJC, expecting September SSSG to be positive at 2% on the benefit of flood-related stockpiling and store improvements, as well as the broad-based recovery that began to emerge in August. BJC's stores showed significantly better development across all product categories, and SSSG is expected to accelerate again once the impact of government stimulus spending fades and customer numbers return to normal in December 2026. CPALL, meanwhile, is expected to report September SSSG in positive low- to mid-single-digit territory, improving from the previous two months, with 7-Eleven benefiting from consumer stockpiling in late September amid heavy rain and flood risk. It also received support from extended alcohol sales hours and an increase in Chinese tourist numbers, while the impact of branch closures due to flooding remained limited.

Costco Wholesale Corporation closed fiscal 2026 with total revenue of $276.4 billion, up 8.1% year over year, as the warehouse retailer reported net sales of $93.87 billion, up 11.2%, and net income of $2.998 billion in its September 24 earnings call. Membership remains the engine of the business, with 84.1 million paid members, including 42.3 million Executive tier members, a group that grew 9.4% and pushed that tier's share of the base to a new high, while renewal rates rose to 92.3% in the US and Canada and 89.8% worldwide. Membership fee income climbed 7.3% to $1.849 billion, and management plans 33 openings in fiscal 2027 as it works toward 30 net new warehouses a year, with digitally enabled sales topping $33 billion on growth above 20%. The quarter was not spotless, as reported gross margin slipped to 11.02% from 11.13% a year earlier and the LIFO charge jumped to $152 million from $43 million, tied to pricier memory in electronics and Middle East conflict costs for gas, motor oil, and resins, while tariff refunds added $0.15 per share and the $184 million received covers only about a third of the expected recovery. With the stock trading near historical valuation highs at a forward P/E of 40.32 and hedge fund ownership slipping to 104 funds from 107, the debate now centers on whether membership loyalty and the expansion plan can keep earnings growing into a premium that leaves little room for a stumble.

Major convenience store chains are stepping up their apparel offerings, including clothing and fashion accessories. Seven-Eleven Japan has teamed up with major apparel company Adastria to launch 28 Seven-exclusive items nationwide on September 25, including T-shirts, scrunchies, and seasonal scarves from Nico and and Lowrys Farm, both popular among young women. According to Seven-Eleven, about 40 percent of last fiscal year's customers were aged 50 or older, while those in their 20s or younger accounted for only about 17 percent. Junko Watanabe of the merchandise division stressed that acquiring younger customers is essential for continued long-term growth, and indicated a plan to double apparel sales by fiscal 2025. FamilyMart, which moved early to strengthen its clothing lineup, began nationwide sales in 2021 of its own brand Convenience Wear, developed with a famous designer. Its flagship store, which opened in Tokyo in July this year, carries about 300 items and includes fitting rooms, with a target of 30 billion yen in sales for fiscal 2026, 1.5 times the previous fiscal year. Lawson also expanded the range and floor space for Muji clothing from April, and on September 29 launched items including gloves in collaboration with the lifestyle brand Bruno. According to the Japan Franchise Association, customer traffic at existing convenience stores has fallen below the same month a year earlier for 14 consecutive months, and attention is focused on whether apparel can create destination-purchase demand and lift sales per store.

Walmart, Target and Dollar General each booked tariff refunds as a second-quarter earnings tailwind, using the proceeds to fund price investments and customer-focused initiatives. Walmart received substantially all of its eligible tariff refunds, totaling approximately $2.9 billion, or about 0.5% of annual U.S. net sales, helping lift its second-quarter consolidated gross profit rate 96 basis points to 25.4% and contributing an approximately 750-basis-point benefit to operating income growth. Target recognized $994 million in International Emergency Economic Powers Act tariff refunds as a reduction in the cost of sales, a benefit of 3.7 percentage points to its gross margin of 33.7% and $1.65 to adjusted earnings per share, and it expects fiscal 2026 operating margin to include about 90 basis points of benefit from the second-quarter refunds. Dollar General said gross profit as a percentage of sales rose 127 basis points year over year to 32.6%, with tariff refunds contributing approximately 81 basis points after related reinvestments, while operating profit rose 29.2% to $769.2 million and adjusted earnings per share increased 33% to $2.48, including an estimated 25 cents from refunds. Dollar General received the majority of expected tariff refunds during the quarter and does not expect a material impact from refunds after reinvestments in the second half of fiscal 2026.

Costco Wholesale Corporation's ancillary businesses delivered strong results in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, with gross margin for ancillary and other businesses rising 23 basis points year over year and 32 basis points excluding gasoline inflation, while comparable sales in ancillary operations surged in the high 20s percentage range on strength in gasoline, pharmacy and travel. Costco's gasoline business reached record volumes in fiscal 2026 as U.S. member household penetration hit an all-time high, saving members an estimated $3.2 billion at the pump versus regional market averages, and the company expanded 26 high-volume U.S. gas stations to support throughput. The pharmacy department posted nearly 20% sales growth, aided by digital options such as Rx Mobile Pay Ahead and Pickup Lockers plus specialized GLP-1 and fertility programs, yielding double-digit script growth that helped offset Medicare Maximum Fair Price adjustments, and Costco announced a partnership with SCAN Health Systems to develop Medicare Advantage benefits. Costco Travel achieved double-digit growth across vacation packages, cruises and car rentals, with cruise bookings up 16% and more than 750,000 members sent on cruises during the fiscal year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Costco's current fiscal-year sales and earnings per share implies year-over-year growth of 8.3% and 11.8%, respectively, and over the past seven days the current fiscal-year earnings estimate rose 36 cents to $22.87 per share while the next fiscal-year estimate rose 44 cents to $24.94 per share.

Alphabet rose 2% in premarket trading after unveiling Gemini 4 Argon, its most advanced artificial intelligence model yet, which the company said delivers improvements in cybersecurity, coding and complex professional work. Accenture soared 17% after fiscal fourth-quarter revenue of $18.68 billion beat its own guidance of $17.75 billion to $18.4 billion and the FactSet consensus estimate of $18.3 billion, with earnings of $3.29 per share also topping expectations. Rocket Lab climbed 4.5% after signing a multiyear launch agreement for 20 new Electron missions with Tokyo-based company Synspective, which Rocket Lab called the largest commercial launch contract for Electron to date. Micron reported better-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter results, earning an adjusted $33.42 per share on revenue of $54.23 billion versus analyst estimates of $31.61 per share on revenue of $51.07 billion, though the stock fell slightly while the Roundhill Memory ETF gained more than 1% and the VanEck Semiconductor ETF advanced 1%. McCormick rose nearly 5% on third-quarter adjusted earnings of 86 cents per share and revenue of $2.02 billion, both above consensus, while Dollar Tree added 1.3% on a Loop Capital upgrade to buy from hold and Nu Holdings gained nearly 6% after denying it is pursuing a transaction with U.K. digital bank Monzo.

Pan Pacific International Holdings, which operates the discount chain Don Quijote, announced on the 1st that it has signed a business transfer agreement with major toy retailer Toys R Us Japan. Toys R Us Japan filed for application of the Civil Rehabilitation Act with the Tokyo District Court the same day, and according to Teikoku Databank, its total liabilities stand at approximately 13.2 billion yen. Pan Pacific International Holdings plans to take over all stores by the end of this month after obtaining court approval, inheriting the brand and main debts while continuing operations, and aims to return to profitability quickly through strengthened sales efforts. Toys R Us Japan has operated more than 150 toy stores nationwide under the Toys R Us name and others, but in recent years it had continued to post losses against the backdrop of a declining birthrate. Pan Pacific International Holdings is also involved in the toy business and judged that combining the two companies' shares would allow it to establish an overwhelming position in Japan's toy market. President Hiroshi Mori, at a press conference on the 1st, stressed that the addition of Toys R Us Japan's broad customer touchpoints will contribute to the group's sustainable growth.

Pan Pacific International Holdings, the company that operates the discount chain Don Quijote, announced on the first of the month that it has signed a business transfer agreement with major toy retailer Toys R Us Japan. Toys R Us Japan filed for application of the Civil Rehabilitation Act with the Tokyo District Court on the same date, and according to Teikoku Databank, its total liabilities are approximately 13.2 billion yen. PPIH plans to take over all stores by the end of this month after obtaining court approval, inheriting the brand and major debts to continue operations, and aims to return to profitability quickly through strengthened sales efforts. Toys R Us Japan has operated more than 150 toy stores nationwide under the Toys R Us name and others, but in recent years it had continued to post losses against the backdrop of a declining birthrate. PPIH President Hideki Mori emphasized at a press conference on the first, saying, "The addition of Toys R Us Japan's broad customer touchpoints will contribute to the group's sustainable growth."

Pan Pacific International Holdings, the operator of Don Quijote, announced on the 1st that it will acquire major toy retailer Toys R Us Japan. The acquisition price was not disclosed, and the deal is expected to be completed within the month. According to PPIH, Toys R Us Japan filed for the start of civil rehabilitation proceedings with the Tokyo District Court on the 1st. PPIH will take over all of the roughly 150 stores in Japan, and President Hideki Moriya, speaking at a press conference in Tokyo, said, "We are considering opening stores inside large Don Quijote locations and those of our group supermarket Uny." The company said it will proceed with discussions toward continuing to use the Toys R Us name, and Senior Executive Officer Kenji Moriya said, "In addition to the existing offerings for children, there is ample room for growth by strengthening our provision of toys for adults." Toys R Us opened its first store in Japan in Ibaraki Prefecture in 1991, and while the U.S. Toys R Us went bankrupt in 2017, Toys R Us Japan continued its business, though in recent years it had continued to post losses amid factors such as the declining birthrate.

Life Corporation announced on September 8 that it will launch a tender offer for Albis, a food supermarket chain based in the Hokuriku region, and make it a consolidated subsidiary. This is Life's first acquisition of a rival supermarket, with the purchase price reaching up to 26.3 billion yen. Life's main trading areas are the Tokyo metropolitan area and the Kinki region, while Albis is based mainly in Toyama Prefecture and the Hokuriku region, and has already expanded into Aichi and Gifu Prefectures, so the two companies' store networks barely overlap. The acquisition would bring Life and Albis's combined sales to roughly 980 billion yen on a simple sum basis, making it a deal that symbolizes the race among food supermarkets to reach the 1 trillion yen mark. Conventional distribution realignment has been based on the dominant strategy of concentrating store openings, but a movement is now beginning to leapfrog trading areas and bring in companies that are strong in those regions.

Costco Wholesale Corporation reported fourth-quarter adjusted earnings of $6.60 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $6.48 and rising 12.4% year over year, while total revenues climbed 11.1% to $95,723 million and topped the consensus estimate of $94,820 million. Reported earnings came in at $6.75 per share, including a 15-cent nonrecurring benefit related to tariff refunds. Adjusted comparable sales, excluding gasoline price and foreign exchange impacts, increased 6.7%, membership fee income rose 7.3% to $1,850 million, worldwide traffic grew 3.3% and the average transaction value increased 5.9%. The company ended the quarter with 84.1 million paid members, up 3.8%, and 150.4 million cardholders, up 3.6%, while digitally enabled comparable sales jumped 19.5%. During fiscal 2026, Costco opened 28 warehouses, including three relocations, for 25 net new buildings and a global count of 939, and management plans another 33 openings in fiscal 2027, including five relocations, against a long-term pace of roughly 30 net new warehouses annually. Over the past seven days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current fiscal year moved up 30 cents to $22.80 and the next fiscal year rose 44 cents to $24.90, implying growth of 11.5% and 9.2%, respectively, while Costco carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

HSBC analyst Joe Thomas upgraded Target to Buy and raised his price target on the stock to $190 from $125 per share, citing a traffic-driven recovery. In a note Wednesday, Thomas said Target's second-quarter results support the view that a turnaround is gaining momentum, with comparable sales rising 3.8%, including a 2.7% rise in store-originated sales, while underlying profits and EPS came in around 5% ahead of consensus. He said growth was driven primarily by footfall rather than higher ticket values, indicating Target is rebuilding customer traffic without material cannibalisation of its store base. HSBC sees potential for earnings forecasts to be exceeded in the short and medium term, noting year-to-date two-year comparable sales growth of 1.7% and that its estimates require only 0.5% two-year growth in the second half to deliver full-year assumptions. The bank's valuation is based on an 18x multiple applied to its revised FY27e EPS estimate of $10.61, in line with Target's five-year average historical PE multiple.