Higher gas prices at the pump could prompt consumers to cut back on discretionary spending, including fast food and leisure trips. In response, many are turning to gas stations at warehouse clubs, where members can access discounted fuel prices.

Warehouse Clubs Winning From Higher Gas Prices

Gas prices are hitting national averages not seen in years. Now, consumers are left to make tough decisions about how to offset higher prices.

For some, buying or utilizing a membership with a warehouse club could be in the mix. One of the key perks of a membership for a warehouse club is the ability to shop in store and also to use the gas stations that many clubs have next to the shopping centers.

This includes BJ's Wholesale Club Holding (NYSE:BJ), Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) and Sam's Club, which is owned by Walmart Inc (NASDAQ:WMT).

New data from Placer.ai shows that these three warehouse clubs saw strong year-over-year growth in March and April.

Data also show that visits to gas stations of these brands began spiking in the first week of March. They remained elevated since. Here are the visitor growth figures on a year-over-year basis for the weeks of March:

• Week of March 2: BJ's +13.7%, Costco +8.1%, Sam's Club +10.1%
• Week of March 9: BJ's +17.2%, Costco +11.4%, Sam's Club +12.5%
• Week of March 16: BJ's +16.7%, Costco +9.7%, Sam's Club: +10.6%
• Week of March 23: BJ's +15.3%, Costco +9.0%, Sam's Club +12.3%

In April, visits to the warehouse clubs’ gas stations remained elevated, with all three brands seeing growth of 16% or more for the week of April 13. The week of April 27 saw double-digit growth of all three warehouse clubs.

The strong growth in visits could benefit each of these companies in two ways. More consumers may have bought memberships for these chains based on the potential gas savings. Existing members likely visited warehouse chains more frequently over the past two months, which may have meant more trips into the warehouses rather than just visits to gas stations.

What's Next

All three of the warehouse chains have quarterly financial results coming in the next few weeks. These results won't cover the period of higher gas prices, but could include management commentary on recent months’ sales and how higher gas prices have impacted membership sales and visitor frequency.

• Walmart reports first-quarter financial results Thursday May 21
• BJ's Wholesale reports first-quarter financial results Friday May 22
• Costco reports third-quarter financial results Thursday May 28

Strong quarterly results and bullish commentary on gas station visits and membership growth could see shares of these three stocks trade higher in the coming weeks.

While many sectors and stocks have been mentioned as seeing negative results from higher gas prices, warehouse chains could quickly become a larger beneficiary of higher prices.

Image via Shutterstock/ Jeff McCollough