ISSAQUAH, Wash. (AP) — Costco is drawing more shoppers and signing up more new members, helping the wholesale club operator’s fiscal fourth-quarter net income and revenue climb. Its performance beat Wall Street’s expectations, and its shares hit an all-time high Wednesday.

Consumers has been interested in stores like Costco, BJ’s Wholesale Club and Sam’s Club because they feel like they’re getting bargains by purchasing items in bulk. Memberships at such stores have continued to rise lately as shoppers worried concerning the economy and high unemployment seek how one can economize.

For the period ended Sept. 2, Costco Wholesale Corp. said Wednesday that it earned $609 million, or $1.39 per share. That compares with $478 million, or $1.08 per share, a year earlier.

There was a different week within the current quarter.

Analysts predicted earnings of $1.31 per share, in accordance with a FactSet survey.

Costco shares climbed $2.90, or 2.9 percent, to $102.54 in afternoon trading. The stock reached $104.43 earlier within the session, a brand new all-time high.

Total revenue increased 14 percent to $32.22 billion from $28.18 billion as sales improved and the Issaquah, Wash., company made additional cash from membership fees. Wall Street expected revenue of $31.59 billion.

Membership fee income totaled $694 million inside the quarter as renewal rates came in at approximately 90 percent. New memberships climbed 2 percent from a year ago. The corporate said that there have been also more shoppers visiting its clubs.

Sales of softlines, that may include items like clothing and footwear, posted a high single-digit percentage increase, with small electric appliances among the many strongest in the category. Sales of food and small items like toiletries rose by a mid-single-digit percentage, as did hardlines, which might include hardware and lawn and garden products.

Online sales climbed 14 percent.

Revenue at stores open no less than a year, a key gauge of a retailer’s health, climbed 5 percent. The figure rose 6 percent inside the U.S. and a pair of percent internationally. It’s a key performance indicator for shops since it excludes results from stores recently opened or closed.

Costco said higher gas prices and foreign currencies exchange rates hurt its performance a chunk.

Stripping out their impact, revenue at stores open in any case a year rose 6 percent for the complete company and for its U.S. locations. Clubs overseas reported a 7 percent increase.

Costco said that its full-year net income rose 17 percent to $1.71 billion, or $3.89 per share, from $1.46 billion, or $3.30 per share, within the previous year. Annual revenue climbed 12 percent to $99.14 billion from $88.92 billion.

Revenue at stores open no less than a year increased 7 percent for the entire company and U.S. clubs. Internationally, the metric rose 6 percent.

Excluding the impact of upper gas prices and foreign exchange exchange rates, the figure climbed 6 percent for the entire company and U.S. clubs. It rose 8 percent abroad.

Costco ended fiscal 2012 with 608 warehouses in operation, including 439 within the U.S. and Puerto Rico, 82 in Canada, 32 in Mexico, 22 inside the U.K., 13 in Japan, nine in Taiwan, eight in Korea and 3 in Australia.

It opened 16 new locations in fiscal 2012. The corporate is planning to open about 27 to 30 new warehouse clubs in fiscal 2013.