By Dhirendra Tripathi

Investing.com – Costco (NASDAQ:) stock fell 2% in premarket Friday as traders focused on the slowdown in February sales, ignoring its second quarter performance that beat estimates.

Costco warns of continued delays in container delivery, increased labor and freight costs and shortages of chip, which all hamper deliveries.

The same-store sales growth for the four week ended February 27, compared to the 10.8% recorded in the previous four weeks, slowed down to 10.6%. These figures were unexpected because they came with quarterly disclosures showing a more than 11% rise in comparable sales during the 12 week period ended February 13 – indicating that groceries and food are starting to cost more.

Costco is based on the fact that consumers look for deals while doing bulk shopping. This habit was further boosted by the pandemic. Although it was predicted that the trend would decline with the opening of new offices, Kroger (NYSE:), which tracks trends in retail, shows that people stock up on more food than normal and prefer to cook at home.

While post-pandemic shopping experiences adjustments, the record-breaking inflation continues to affect pockets and supply chain issues.

“Despite all the supply chain issues, we’re staying in stock and continue to work to mitigate cost and price increases as best we can,” Reuters quoted Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti as saying.

On net sales of $51billion, the adjusted 2.92 cents per quarter were up 16%. Both earnings as well as sales exceeded expectations.