Costco Wholesale (COST) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

Costco Wholesale Corporation operates membership-based warehouse clubs that offer a broad selection of merchandise at generally competitive prices. Its product range includes groceries, fresh foods, apparel, appliances, electronics, furniture, jewelry, hardware, and seasonal goods, along with private-label products sold under the Kirkland Signature brand.

The company also provides a variety of ancillary services, including gasoline stations, pharmacies, optical centers, hearing-aid centers, food courts, tire centers, and travel services. Costco sells products through its warehouses, e-commerce websites, and business delivery operations.

Costco traces its history to the opening of the first Price Club warehouse in San Diego in 1976. The company opened its first Costco warehouse in Seattle in 1983 and merged with Price Club in 1993. It serves members across the United States and internationally, including Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Australia, Spain, France, Iceland, China, and New Zealand.

Ron Vachris has served as Costco’s president and chief executive officer since January 2024, succeeding Craig Jelinek. The company is headquartered in Issaquah, Washington.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $906.10 to $915.13
• 50-Day Range: $910.18 to $974.03
• 52-Week Range: $844.06 to $1,096.50
• Volume: 2.24 million shs
• Average Volume: 1.70 million shs
• Market Capitalization: $403.65 billion
• P/E Ratio: 45.78
• Dividend Yield: 0.65%
• Price Target: $1,056.03
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy

Costco Wholesale Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Costco Wholesale scored higher than 88% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 24th out of 174 stocks in the consumer staples sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 3.6 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Moderate Buy

Consensus Rating

Costco Wholesale has received a consensus rating of Moderate Buy. The company's average rating score is 2.60, and is based on no strong buy ratings, 22 buy ratings, 12 hold ratings, and 1 sell rating.

Upside Potential

Costco Wholesale has a consensus price target of $1,056.03, representing about 16.0% upside from its current price of $910.18.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

Costco Wholesale has been the subject of 8 research reports in the past 90 days, demonstrating strong analyst interest in this stock.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 1.3 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 10.19%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Costco Wholesale are expected to grow by 10.19% in the coming year, from $20.42 to $22.50 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Costco Wholesale is 45.78, which means that it is trading at a more expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 39.18.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Costco Wholesale is 45.78, which means that it is trading at a more expensive P/E ratio than the Consumer Staples sector average P/E ratio of about 13.38.

Price to Earnings Growth Ratio

Costco Wholesale has a PEG Ratio of 3.80. PEG Ratios above 1 indicate that a company could be overvalued.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Costco Wholesale has a P/B Ratio of 13.84. P/B Ratios above 3 indicate that a company could be overvalued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 3.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Healthy

Percentage of Shares Shorted

1.66% of the float of Costco Wholesale has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Costco Wholesale has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 4.38.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Costco Wholesale has recently decreased by 3.80%, indicating that investor sentiment is improving.

Dividend

• Score: 3.3 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Strong

Dividend Yield

Costco Wholesale has a dividend yield of 0.64%, which is in the bottom 25% of all stocks that pay dividends.

Dividend Growth

Costco Wholesale has been increasing its dividend for 22 years.

Dividend Coverage

The dividend payout ratio of Costco Wholesale is 29.58%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%.

Dividend Sustainability

Based on earnings estimates, Costco Wholesale will have a dividend payout ratio of 26.13% next year. This indicates that Costco Wholesale will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

News and Social Media

• Score: 4.6 / 5
• News Sentiment: 1.36

News Sentiment

Costco Wholesale has a news sentiment score of 1.36. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This is a higher news sentiment than the 0.76 average news sentiment score of Consumer Staples companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 192 news articles for Costco Wholesale this week, compared to 12 articles on an average week.

Search Interest

82 people have searched for COST on MarketBeat in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 24% compared to the previous 30 days.

MarketBeat Follows

89 people have added Costco Wholesale to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 147% compared to the previous 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 1.4 / 5
• Insider Trading: Selling Shares

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Costco Wholesale insiders have sold more of their company's stock than they have bought. Specifically, they have bought $0.00 in company stock and sold $847,343.00 in company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

0.10% of the stock of Costco Wholesale is held by insiders.

Percentage Held by Institutions

68.48% of the stock of Costco Wholesale is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

Company Calendar

• Last Earnings: 5/28/2026
• Record date for 8/7 Dividend: 7/24/2026
• Ex-Dividend for 8/7 Dividend: 7/24/2026
• Dividend Payable: 8/07/2026
• Today: 9/09/2026
• Next Earnings (Estimated): 9/24/2026
• Fiscal Year End: 8/31/2027

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NASDAQ
• Sector: Consumer Staples
• Industry: Consumer Staples Distribution & Retail
• Sub-Industry: Consumer Staples Merchandise Retail
• Current Symbol: NASDAQ:COST
• CIK: 909832
• Web: www.costco.com
• Phone: (425) 313-8100
• Fax: 425-313-6593
• Employees: 341,000
• Year Founded: 1983

Price Target and Rating

• Average Price Target for Costco Wholesale: $1,056.03
• High Price Target: $1,315.00
• Low Price Target: $16.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +16.0%
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy
• Rating Score (0-4): 2.60
• Research Coverage: 35 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Trailing Twelve Months): $19.88
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 45.78
• Forward P/E Ratio: 44.57
• P/E Growth: 3.8
• Net Income: $8.10 billion
• Net Margins: 3.01%
• Pretax Margin: 4.00%
• Return on Equity: 28.04%
• Return on Assets: 10.63%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 0.17
• Current Ratio: 1.07
• Quick Ratio: 0.61

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $293.59 billion
• Price / Sales: 1.37
• Cash Flow: $23.36 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 38.96
• Book Value: $65.76 per share
• Price / Book: 13.84

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 443,479,000
• Free Float: 443,036,000
• Market Cap: $403.65 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 0.86