Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ: COST) Investor Securities Class Action Lawsuit 11/06/2018
An investor in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ: COST) filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington over alleged violations of Federal Securities Laws by Costco Wholesale Corporation in connection with certain allegedly false and misleading statements made between June 6, 2018, and October 25, 2018.
According to the complaint the plaintiff alleges on behalf of purchasers of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ: COST) common shares between June 6, 2018, and October 25, 2018, that the defendants violated Federal Securities Laws. More specifically, the plaintiff claims that between June 6, 2018, and October 25, 2018, the Defendants failed to disclose that Costco lacked effective internal control over financial reporting, and that as a result of the foregoing, Defendants’ statements about Costco’s business, operations, and prospects, were false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis.
Issaquah, WA based Costco Wholesale Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates membership warehouses. It offers branded and private-label products in a range of merchandise categories. On October 4, 2018, Costco Wholesale Corporation reported its fourth quarter and fiscal year 2018 operating results. Costco Wholesale Corporation reported that its annual Total Revenue rose from over $129.02 billion for the 12 months period that ended on September 3, 2017 to over $141.57 billion for the 12 months period that ended on September 2, 2018 and that its Net income over those time period increased from $2.67 billion to $3.13 billion. Costco Wholesale Corporation announced that "in its upcoming fiscal 2018 Annual Report on Form 10-K, it expects to report a material weakness in internal control. The weakness relates to general information technology controls in the areas of user access and program change-management over certain information technology systems that support the Company's financial reporting processes. The access issues relate to the extent of privileges afforded users authorized to access company systems."
Shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ: CSOT) declined from $237.57 per share on October 2, 2018 to $217.79 per share on October 5, 2018.