PriceSmart fiscal fourth-quarter sales rise 13.8%, with currency adding 6.0%

PriceSmart closed its fiscal year with a quarter in which the reported sales growth rate was nearly twice the underlying one. Net merchandise sales rose 13.8% from a year earlier to $1.48 billion in the thirteen weeks ended August 31, 2026, and foreign currency translation added 6.0% to that growth rate. Diluted earnings per share were $1.21 against $1.02, and net income increased 19.3% to $37.6 million.

The release, furnished as Exhibit 99.1 to a Form 8-K on October 26, 2026, reports the fiscal fourth quarter and the full year. PriceSmart's fiscal year ends August 31, so these are not calendar third-quarter figures, and the comparable-sales window the company cites is the 13-week period ended August 30, 2026.

Currency supplied six of the thirteen points of growth

Remove translation and the quarter's momentum roughly halves. Net merchandise sales rose 7.8% at constant currency against 13.8% as reported, with the company putting the favorable currency effect at $78.5 million. The same split runs through the comparable-sales line: comparable net merchandise sales for the 55 clubs open longer than 13 ½ calendar months rose 12.2% from a year earlier, but only 6.2% at constant currency, with currency contributing 6.0%. For the full year, net merchandise sales rose 11.7% from a year earlier to $5.75 billion, or 8.4% at constant currency. Currency translation accounted for $170.6 million of that annual total, a 3.3% addition. Translation is arithmetic rather than demand: PriceSmart converts current-year sales at prior-year monthly average rates, so a softer dollar lifts the reported number without adding a transaction.

Overhead outran sales and the operating margin narrowed

Total revenues of $1.52 billion, up 13.9% from $1.33 billion, turned into operating income of $57.0 million against $52.8 million, growth of 8.11% that lagged the top line by more than five points. Operating margin was 3.76%, down from 3.96%. Below the operating line the tax line moved the other way: the provision for income taxes fell to $12.54 million from $14.82 million, equal to 24.99% of pretax income of $50.18 million against 31.98% of $46.34 million a year earlier, which accounts for most of the difference between 19.3% net-income growth and 8.11% operating-income growth. The squeeze came below the gross-profit line rather than in it: cost of goods sold on net merchandise sales rose 13.66% to $1.25 billion from $1.1 billion, in step with sales, while general and administrative expense jumped 24.97% to $58.97 million from $47.19 million, and warehouse club and other operations rose to $147.41 million from $130.58 million. Dollar amounts in this paragraph follow the company's income statement, which is presented in thousands. Membership income, the fee line that carries little marginal cost, grew 20.33% to $27.2 million from $22.6 million, and adjusted EBITDA was $83.5 million against $75.5 million.

A full year at $5.88 billion and a third Jamaican club

For the year ended August 31, 2026, total revenues rose 11.5% to $5.88 billion from $5.27 billion, net merchandise sales rose 11.7% to $5.75 billion, and comparable net merchandise sales were up 9.6%, or 6.4% at constant currency. Net income for the year was $166.6 million, or $5.40 per diluted share, against $147.9 million and $4.82, and adjusted EBITDA was $360.5 million compared with $320.7 million. The estate grew more slowly than the top line: 58 warehouse clubs were in operation on August 31, 2026, against 56 a year earlier, and the company opened its third Jamaican club in Montego Bay in October 2026 on a five-acre site with sales floor of approximately 42,000 square feet. Four previously announced clubs would take the total to 63. Inventory of $617.24 million was above the prior year's $560.73 million but grew more slowly than sales, and cash and cash equivalents were $220.79 million.

The call, and what the release leaves out

The document carries no guidance and no quotation from an executive, so the outlook will have to come from management on the quarterly call, set for 12:00 p.m. Eastern time on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, with a replay available through November 3, 2026. It also gives no segment figures, though it names four reporting segments — the United States, Central America, the Caribbean and Colombia — and does not break out currency exposure by country. Nothing in the release addresses pricing, tariffs or the cost of the new clubs beyond the opening schedule; the next dated operational marker is the South Camp Road club in Kingston, Jamaica, which the company expects to open in December of 2026.