PriceSmart FY2026 Earnings: Strong Sales and Membership Growth, Flat Operating Margin

PriceSmart’s fiscal 2026 income statement offers a useful look at how its membership warehouse model is performing—and how much of its growth reaches the bottom line. Its annual 10-K filing shows double-digit revenue and earnings growth, stronger membership retention and a currency boost, while rising expenses limited operating-margin improvement.

The retailer operates across Central America, the Caribbean and Colombia, using a warehouse-club model familiar to Costco shoppers. It finished the year ended August 31, 2026 with 58 clubs, up from 56.

Strong sales growth, amplified by currencies

Revenue rose 11.5% to $5.88 billion, while net merchandise sales increased 11.7% to $5.75 billion. Foods and sundries—including groceries and cleaning supplies—plus fresh foods accounted for approximately 78% of merchandise sales.

Growth extended beyond new locations. Comparable merchandise sales, measuring eligible clubs open for at least 13½ months, increased 9.6%, versus 6.7% a year earlier. Growth was 6.4% at constant currency, which removes exchange-rate effects.

Colombia illustrates the distinction. Merchandise sales jumped 34.5% to $813.9 million, but increased 15.8% at constant currency. Underlying growth was still substantial; translating local sales into dollars amplified the reported result.

The flow below traces full-year revenue through costs, expenses and net income.

Membership strengthened, but overhead absorbed margin gains

Membership income increased 17.8% to $100.8 million, outpacing merchandise sales. Member accounts grew 8.7% to 2.19 million, and the trailing twelve-month renewal rate improved from 88.8% to 90.4%.

Fees equaled 38.6% of operating income, compared with 36.8% last year. That underscores their economic importance, but does not mean memberships are pure profit: operating the clubs and supporting members entails shared costs.

Merchandise gross margin—the share of merchandise sales remaining after merchandise costs—improved from 15.7% to 16.0%. Including membership and other revenue, total gross margin reached 17.7%, versus 17.4%.

Yet selling, general and administrative expenses climbed 14.0% to $777.5 million, faster than revenue. General and administrative costs alone rose 16.4% to $209.4 million.

Consequently, operating income increased 12.3% to $261.0 million, but operating margin remained approximately 4.4%. Better merchandise economics and membership income largely offset rising overhead rather than delivering substantial margin expansion.

Earnings improved, with a late-year caution

Net income increased 12.6% to $166.6 million, and diluted earnings per share rose from $4.82 to $5.40.

Below operating income, net interest expense and other expense totaled $33.3 million, versus $26.0 million previously. Currency losses were $29.8 million: exchange rates helped translated sales while creating losses on foreign-currency monetary balances and transactions. A lower effective tax rate—26.8% versus 28.4%—helped earnings.

Fourth-quarter results provide a caution: revenue grew 13.9%, but operating income increased only 8.1%, indicating year-over-year operating-margin pressure.

Expansion remains central. The filing anticipates five fiscal 2027 openings, including entry into Chile, bringing the planned network to 63 clubs. Earlier coverage of its second-quarter announcement also highlighted the planned eighth Guatemala club.

The takeaway: stronger retention and underlying sales growth support PriceSmart’s model, but expense discipline remains essential. As it expands against supermarkets, warehouse retailers and online alternatives, its narrow margins leave limited room for higher import costs, currency volatility or execution setbacks.