<p><strong>Issaquah, WA</strong><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"> Costco Wholesale Corporation has reported its third quarter and year-to-date financials for the fiscal year 2012, revealing numbers for the twelve week period and the first thirty-six weeks of the year that both ended May 6, 2012. Net sales for the quarter were $21.85 billion, an increase of eight percent from $20.19 billion for the comparable period last year. Net sales for the first thirty-six weeks showed a ten percent increase to $65.54 billion, from $59.46 billion last year, according to a press release.</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p> Comparable sales received a positive impact from inflation in gasoline prices, principally for the thirty-six-week period. Foreign currencies had a negative impact for each period. </p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p> Net income for the third quarter was $386 million and $.88 per diluted share. Last year, net income was $324 million and $.73 per diluted share. Net income for the year-to-date was $1.100 billion and $2.50 per diluted share, an increase from $984 million and $2.22 per diluted share, in 2011. The quarter this year included a $6.5 million pre-tax LIFO charge compared to a $49 million pre-tax LIFO charge, last year.</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">
