Costco not feeling the heat ....

The grocery business is known for its razor-thin margins, but, even as food prices plunge and stores battle for consumer dollars, Costco Wholesale Corp. said it isn't feeling pressure from its rivals.

On an earnings conference call with analysts Thursday, Costco's /quotes/comstock/15*!cost/quotes/nls/cost (COST 59.32, +0.56, +0.95%) chief financial officer, Richard Galanti, said the company hadn't been feeling an impact from the price wars in the grocery space. Read more about Costco's earnings.


"I don't want to belittle the supermarkets or Wal-Mart /quotes/comstock/13*!wmt/quotes/nls/wmt (WMT 54.65, -0.04, -0.07%) ; they are both great retailers," he said, going on to point out that markups at supermarkets are in the mid-20% range and markups at Wal-Mart are in the high teens to low-20% range, while Costco's average markup is about 11%.

Even as he acknowledged that Americans tend to visit Wal-Mart and Target /quotes/comstock/13*!tgt/quotes/nls/tgt (TGT 46.93, +0.94, +2.04%) stores once a week, and "everybody still shops at the supermarket a couple times a week" -- going to Costco less frequently -- his company's pricing hasn't been impacted by what competitors are doing.

"In terms of pricing, I don't want to be arrogant about it, but I can't predict what the future will hold," the CFO said. "We've held our own pretty well in tough times."

While grocers and discount supercenters are locked in cutthroat price competition, one industry player doesn't seem to be fazed.