Loading…
Membership-only warehouse club retailer selling groceries and general merchandise in bulk at low markups.
Membership-only warehouse club retailer selling groceries and general merchandise in bulk at low markups.
Earns most of its profit from membership fees rather than merchandise sales, because it marks goods up very little, so the number of members and how many renew matter most. It carries a limited range of items, buys in bulk and sells much under its own Kirkland Signature label.
Moat: wide (cost advantage, scale, brand). High membership renewal rates and rock-bottom pricing on limited SKUs create loyalty that is very hard for rivals to replicate.
Headquarters: Issaquah, Washington, United States · Founded: 1983 · Employees: 355,000
Size Costco (COST) is a United States Consumer Staples company (Specialty Stores) with a market value of $467B, the 22nd largest of 3,117 United States companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at $1,054 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares gained 4.4%, against +13.0% for the median peer and -1.1% for the United States market (cap-weighted) — 3rd lowest of 8 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue grew 10.1% over the last twelve months (peer median +6.4%); the operating margin is 3.9% (peer median 25.8%).
Valuation It trades at 46.2× forward earnings against a peer median of 22.6× (most expensive of 8).
Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about 20% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +9%, so the hurdle is +11 pp: the price needs faster growth than the company has been delivering — of companies that just grew 25–50% a year, 93.8% slowed down over the next four years.
Capital Return on invested capital runs 28.4 points above its cost of capital (9.0% WACC).
Credit Costco has 4 bonds outstanding ($5.00B), rated AA by the agencies and trading like AA+ at a weighted spread of 27 bp.
Short interest Short interest is 1.7% of the free float (15 Oct 2026).
Next results Next results expected around 10 Dec 2026 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2026 | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $303B | $303B | $275B | $254B | $242B |
| Revenue growth | — | +10% | +8% | +5% | — |
| Gross profit | $38.9B | $38.9B | $35.3B | $32.1B | $29.7B |
| EBITDA | $14.4B | $14.4B | $12.8B | $11.5B | $10.6B |
| Net income | $9.23B | $9.23B | $8.10B | $7.37B | $6.29B |
| Free cash flow | $9.38B | $9.38B | $7.84B | $6.63B | $6.75B |
| Capital expenditure | $6.43B | $6.43B | $5.50B | $4.71B | $4.32B |
| Total debt | $10.2B | $10.2B | $9.94B | $9.95B | $10.5B |
The default views of Competitor Analysis ▸ Charts, drawn from the same data. Open them in the cockpit to change the axes, pin companies and read every value.
| Company | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Costco COST | $467B | +4% | +10% | 4% | 46.2× | 19.9% |
| Walmart WMT | $996B | -4% | +6% | 4% | 41.8× | 14.7% |
| BJ's Wholesale Club BJ | $13.8B | +18% | +9% | 4% | 22.4× | -0.7% |
| Target TGT | $72.0B | +28% | +2% | 6% | 17.1× | 4.1% |
Peer set: Sector in the same market, nearest in size. This is the same default set the interactive Competitor Analysis opens with.
| Measure | COST | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | +11.1% | +9.0% | 2nd highest of 8 |
| 6-month return | +4.4% | +13.0% | 3rd lowest of 8 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -3.9% | -4.7% | 4th highest of 8 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | +10.1% | +6.4% | highest of 8 |
| Operating margin | 3.9% | 25.8% | lowest of 8 |
| Forward P/E | 46.2× | 22.6× | most expensive of 8 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | 19.9% | -0.3% | most demanding of 8 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +9.1% | +5.0% | highest of 8 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | +10.8 pp | -5.2 pp | most demanding of 8 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | +28.4 pp | +13.3 pp | 2nd highest of 8 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | -0.8× | 1.4× | least indebted of 8 |
| Bond spread | 27 bp | 53 bp | tightest of 8 |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Costco COST | United States | $467B | +4% | +10% | 4% | 46.2× | 19.9% | +9.1% |
| Coca-Cola Company (The) KO | United States | $412B | +23% | +8% | 32% | 27.6× | 2.8% | +7.9% |
| Procter & Gamble PG | United States | $383B | +13% | +4% | 24% | 23.4× | -0.3% | +2.7% |
| Philip Morris International PM | United States | $308B | +17% | +8% | 38% | 22.6× | -0.8% | +7.2% |
| Walmart WMT | United States | $996B | -4% | +6% | 4% | 41.8× | 14.7% | +5.0% |
| PepsiCo PEP | United States | $193B | -8% | +6% | 16% | 16.6× | -5.5% | +5.9% |
| Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV Sponsored ADR BUD | United States | $168B | +5% | +7% | 26% | 18.9× | 2.7% | +4.7% |
| Altria MO | United States | $127B | +13% | +2% | 75% | 12.9× | -10.9% | -0.7% |
Costco has 4 bonds outstanding with $5.00B face value. The agencies rate it AA; its bonds trade like AA+. Weighted yield 4.86%, a spread of 27 bp over government bonds.