Costco is still winning the inflation battle. It delivered another month of strong sales growth, as investors look ahead for signs of improvement in membership renewal rates. Late Wednesday, Costco reported a total sales increase of 13% to $23.92 billion for the four-week retail month of April between April 6 and May 3. The retailer delivered comparable sales growth of 11.6%. Comparable sales — also referred to as comps or same-store sales — measures revenue growth from existing locations open for at least one year. April had one additional shopping day versus last year due to the Easter calendar shift, which positively impacted comps. Shares of Costco moved modestly higher Thursday to $1,000 each. The Club stock is up roughly 16% year-to-date compared to an S & P 500 gain of almost 7.5%. In the U.S., core April comps — stripping out the impact of Iran war-elevated gasoline prices and foreign exchange fluctuations — rose 8%, showing continued strength in underlying demand. Costco, as we have been reporting, benefits from higher gas prices because more traffic at its warehouse-adjacent gas pumps leads to more in-store traffic. The retailer is even embarking on standalone Costco gas stations . Total traffic in Costco warehouses did accelerate sequentially to 4.2% — and in the U.S., traffic was up 3.8%. Increased foot traffic coincided with average transactions up 7.1%. Since sales numbers are reported each month, there is little surprise on the revenue line when earnings come out. "Costco doesn't necessarily trade on the quarter because you have these monthly numbers," Jim said Thursday. He said that membership renewal rates drifting lower is what has been capturing the market's attention. An update on renewals won't come until Costco reports its fiscal 2026 third quarter on May 28. "[We] need to see more progress on fixing the renewals, which have drifted lower in the U.S. A lot of online signups have been the issue," said Jeff Marks, director of portfolio analysis for the Club. Jeff added that customers who shop Costco online "tend to renew at a lower rate than people who are in the warehouses every weekend looking for all the bargains." It matters because Costco does make most of its money on membership fees. COST YTD mountain Costco YTD Still, solid April sales suggest customers continue to gravitate to Costco for value offerings, particularly tied to bargains on gas prices. Gas was a top performer driven by price-per-gallon changes year over year, as well as an acceleration in volume growth. The national average for a gallon of unleaded gas rose about 26 cents from a week ago to $4.56. Gas prices have been higher because the Iran war, which began on Feb. 28, has led to the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a major waterway for oil transport. Other categories were also positive. Growth in foods and sundries was positive mid-single digits, with fresh foods up high-single digits and nonfoods up mid to high single digits. William Blair remains "particularly bullish" ahead of Costco's quarterly results. The analysts said that earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) margin could expand by nearly 20 basis points in both the fiscal third and fourth quarters as the company benefits from stronger sales growth and laps last year's higher wage and benefit expenses. Looking further out, William Blair said investors may also begin focusing on the potential for another special dividend. Costco, which has historically issued special dividends every 2½ to 3 years, holds more than $17 billion in cash, according to the analysts, who have an outperform buy rating on the stock. They don't do price targets. The last time Costco paid out a special dividend was mid-January 2024, which was a $15 per share payout totaling about $6.7 billion. At the time, shares were trading around $680 each. Bottom line It's difficult to dispute Costco's leadership as a preferred retailer among consumers, given its consistent monthly sales results so far in 2026. While still concerned about membership renewal rates, we can point to domestic renewal rates above 92% as of the fiscal second quarter , making it evident that Costco is viewed as one of the safer areas in the staples category because of its value-oriented model. We have a hold-equivalent 2 rating on Costco stock and a $1,100 price target. (Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust is long COST. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. 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