Ethermac|Costco is tapping into precious metals: First gold bars sold out now silver coins are too

First,Ethermac Costco sold gold bars to its members who were looking to invest in more than bulk household purchases. Now the warehouse retailer is selling silver coins, too.

Costco began selling 1-ounce 24-karat gold bars, priced at about $2,000 in October 2023 – members could buy at most two of them. There was a rush on them with Costco selling more than $100 million in gold bars in the three-month period ending Nov. 26, 2023.

"When we load them on the site, they’re typically gone within a few hours, and we limit two per member,” Costco chief financial officer Richard Galanti told investors, CNBC reported at the time.

The same trend is happening with the silver coins, which Costco began selling recently, Galanti told CNN. Sold in tubes of 25, the 1-ounce Canada Maple Leaf Silver Coins are priced at about $680. However, they are sold out online.

The good news if you are in the market for the coins? Costco's site says the coins, which have a maple leaf on the front and a silhouette of King Charles III on the back, may be available at your local warehouse at a lower price. Members can buy a maximum of five tubes of coins; they are non-refundable.

Also found on the site: a 2024 1-ounce Canada Maple Leaf 24-karat gold coin priced at $2,219.99.

On Thursday during the company's earnings call, Galanti told analysts that growth in e-commerce sales during the quarter ending Feb. 18, was "led by sales of gold and very recently silver." 

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Why would Costco shoppers buy gold bars and silver coins?

The value of gold and silver is expected to continue to climb in 2024 on expectations that the Federal Reserve will start cutting interest rates.

“We are expecting gold to be pushed higher by a Fed easing. Also this comes with a weaker dollar,” precious metals strategist Joni Teves of investment bank UBS told CNBC. At the time, Tewes said she expected gold to hit $2,200 per ounce by the end of the year.

Gold ended trading Friday at $2,178.60 up more than 5% for the year, while silver was $24.35 per ounce up 2%.

“Silver has been underperforming gold quite a lot. So there is a lot of catching up to do and I think the move could be quite dramatic,” Teves told CNBC.

Costco shares fall off record price. No membership price increase yet

The retailer's stock price fell 7.6% on Friday after it hit an all-time high on Thursday. The retailer's performance in past quarter surpassed expectations on many measures, but revenue fell just short.

Investors may have been expecting Costco to increase the price of its membership, something it hasn't done since June 2017. "We will at some point," said Galanti, who will step down March 15 and be replaced by former Kroger CFO Gary Millerchip, The Wall Street Journal reported. "I've been joking with Gary, it will be on his watch, not mine."

Contributing: Jessica Guynn, James Powel and Mary Walrath-Holdridge.

Follow Mike Snider on X and Threads: @mikesnider & mikegsnider.

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