By Dhirendra Tripathi

Investing.com – Costco stock (NASDAQ:) traded 0.8% higher in Friday’s premarket as the company overrode cost and supply-side pressures in the fourth quarter to beat all estimates.

The total revenue rose more than 17% to $62.67 Billion, as consumers continued stocking up on essential items. This is a continuation of a spending behavior that began in the pandemic era and was revived by Covid-19’s Delta version.

Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti told analysts Thursday that the company is running out of many of its general items within two weeks and “ordering as much as we can” to replenish the stocks.

The retailer has also placed  purchasing limits on selected items, where the fear of Delta has led to a surge in demand. Galanti explained that these include paper towels, toilet paper and water, as well as some cleaning products.

Selling expenses and merchandise costs both increased.

The company’s net income rose by 20% to $1.67billion despite the fact that it was subject to cost pressures such as labor shortage, higher wages and congestion at ports. This is a problem facing all retailers and manufacturers as they deal with both high demand and disrupted supplies from lockdowns.