BUSINESS BRIEFING / EARNINGS

Costco Wholesale Corp. said a stronger dollar and higher employee healthcare costs helped drive its fiscal fourth-quarter profit down 6%, but the results beat analysts’ forecasts.

The members-only warehouse club chain earned $374 million, or 85 cents a share, for the quarter, down from $398 million, or 90 cents, a year earlier. Revenue fell 3% to $22.38 billion.

The performance topped the average earnings forecast of 77 cents a share on sales of $22.34 billion, according to a Thomson Reuters poll.