Costco Wholesale Corp COST
Stock research in plain language · As of Oct 04, 2026 · updated once a week, after the trading week closes
What the company does
Costco Wholesale Corp is a mega-cap company in the Consumer Defensive sector (Discount Stores), with a market value of $408.1B, based in the USA.
It employs about 341,000 people and has been listed since Sep 22, 1993.
Costco Wholesale Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the operation of membership warehouses in the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico, Japan, the United Kingdom, Korea, Australia, Taiwan, China, Spain, France, Iceland, New Zealand, and Sweden. It offers merchandise, including sundries, dry groceries, candies, coolers, freezers, deli, liquor, and tobacco; non-food merchandise comprising appliances, small electronics, health and beauty aids, hardware, lawn and garden, sporting goods, tires, toys and seasonal, automotive, stamps, tickets, apparel, furniture, domestics, housewares, special order kiosks, and jewelry; and fresh food, such as meat, produce, service deli, and bakery products. The company is also involved in warehouse ancillary operations, which include gasoline, pharmacies, optical, food courts, hearing-aid centers, and tire installation centers.
Cheap or expensive? relatively expensive
Its price-to-earnings (P/E) is 44.5 versus 18.1 for 4 direct peers — relatively expensive.
Revenue is growing 11% versus the same quarter last year.
On analysts' next-year forecasts the multiple drops to 40.3 — they expect higher earnings.
The average analyst price target is 1057.94, 15% above the current price (their view, not ours).
The stock sits at 32% of its one-year range (0% = the low, 100% = the high).
The risks
- No risk flags were detected from the data we have.
Strengths
- ✅ Profitable — 3 of every 100 dollars of revenue stays as profit.
- ✅ Generates free cash flow — profit becomes cash in the bank.
- ✅ More cash than debt.
- ✅ Most analysts rate it buy (24 vs 2).
What changed this week
Over the past week the stock fell 0.2% (for comparison: S&P 500 -0.2%, sector ETF XLP -1.9%).
This week's news
- Ford (F) Lost $7.4 Billion and Still Pays a 4.9% Dividend. How Long Can That Hold? finance.yahoo.com · 2026-10-04
- FedEx (FDX) vs UPS (UPS): Which is a Better Stock to Buy? finance.yahoo.com · 2026-10-04
- Costco (COST) Stock May Be 17% Overvalued Following Digital Sales News finance.yahoo.com · 2026-10-03
- SA Asks: Is Walmart a buy, sell or hold right now? seekingalpha.com · 2026-10-03
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A description of facts from the filings and the market — not investment advice or a recommendation. "Cheap" and "expensive" are always relative to the comparison group.