Costco Wholesale (COST) Competitors $958.54 -11.14 (-1.15%) Closing price 08/22/2025 04:00 PM EasternExtended Trading$958.80 +0.26 (+0.03%) As of 08/22/2025 07:59 PM Eastern Extended trading is trading that happens on electronic markets outside of regular trading hours. This is a fair market value extended hours price provided by Polygon.io. Learn more. Add Compare Share Share Competitors Stock AnalysisAnalyst ForecastsChartCompetitorsDividendEarningsFinancialsHeadlinesInsider TradesOptions ChainOwnershipSEC FilingsShort InterestSustainabilityTrendsBuy This Stock COST vs. AAPL, AMZN, CASY, LULU, ROST, ULTA, BURL, HD, TGT, and WMTShould you be buying Costco Wholesale stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Costco Wholesale include Apple (AAPL), Amazon.com (AMZN), Casey's General Stores (CASY), lululemon athletica (LULU), Ross Stores (ROST), Ulta Beauty (ULTA), Burlington Stores (BURL), Home Depot (HD), Target (TGT), and Walmart (WMT). Costco Wholesale vs. Its Competitors Apple Amazon.com Casey's General Stores lululemon athletica Ross Stores Ulta Beauty Burlington Stores Home Depot Target Walmart Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) are related large-cap companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their media sentiment, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, valuation, risk and earnings. Is COST or AAPL more profitable? Apple has a net margin of 24.30% compared to Costco Wholesale's net margin of 2.92%. Apple's return on equity of 170.91% beat Costco Wholesale's return on equity.Company Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Costco Wholesale2.92% 30.48% 10.52% Apple 24.30%170.91%31.94% Which has preferable earnings and valuation, COST or AAPL? Apple has higher revenue and earnings than Costco Wholesale. Apple is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Costco Wholesale, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks. CompanyGross RevenuePrice/Sales RatioNet IncomeEarnings Per SharePrice/Earnings RatioCostco Wholesale$254.45B1.67$7.37B$17.6354.37Apple$391.04B8.64$93.74B$6.5934.56 Is COST or AAPL a better dividend stock? Costco Wholesale pays an annual dividend of $5.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. Apple pays an annual dividend of $1.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. Costco Wholesale pays out 29.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Apple pays out 15.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Costco Wholesale has increased its dividend for 22 consecutive years and Apple has increased its dividend for 14 consecutive years. Costco Wholesale is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth. Do institutionals & insiders believe in COST or AAPL? 68.5% of Costco Wholesale shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 67.7% of Apple shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.2% of Costco Wholesale shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Apple shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth. Which has more volatility & risk, COST or AAPL? Costco Wholesale has a beta of 0.96, indicating that its share price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Apple has a beta of 1.16, indicating that its share price is 16% more volatile than the S&P 500. Does the media refer more to COST or AAPL? In the previous week, Apple had 212 more articles in the media than Costco Wholesale. MarketBeat recorded 306 mentions for Apple and 94 mentions for Costco Wholesale. Costco Wholesale's average media sentiment score of 1.15 beat Apple's score of 0.87 indicating that Costco Wholesale is being referred to more favorably in the media. Company Very Positive Positive Neutral Negative Very Negative Overall Sentiment Costco Wholesale 61 Very Positive mention(s) 16 Positive mention(s) 14 Neutral mention(s) 1 Negative mention(s) 1 Very Negative mention(s) Positive Apple 177 Very Positive mention(s) 36 Positive mention(s) 59 Neutral mention(s) 21 Negative mention(s) 12 Very Negative mention(s) Positive Do analysts prefer COST or AAPL? Costco Wholesale currently has a consensus price target of $1,050.00, indicating a potential upside of 9.54%. Apple has a consensus price target of $237.98, indicating a potential upside of 4.49%. Given Costco Wholesale's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Costco Wholesale is more favorable than Apple.Company Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Costco Wholesale 0 Sell rating(s) 10 Hold rating(s) 17 Buy rating(s) 0 Strong Buy rating(s) 2.63Apple 2 Sell rating(s) 11 Hold rating(s) 16 Buy rating(s) 2 Strong Buy rating(s) 2.58 SummaryCostco Wholesale and Apple tied by winning 10 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks. Get Costco Wholesale News Delivered to You Automatically Sign up to receive the latest news and ratings for COST and its competitors with MarketBeat's FREE daily newsletter. Email Address New MarketBeat Followers Over TimeWhat are MarkeBeat Followers?This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding COST and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period. Skip ChartMedia Sentiment Over TimeWhat is Media Sentiment?This chart shows the average media sentiment of NASDAQ and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.Skip Chart COST vs. The Competition Export to ExcelMetricCostco WholesaleRETAIL IndustryRetail SectorNASDAQ ExchangeMarket Cap$430.03B$93.16B$27.08B$9.60BDividend Yield0.54%1.79%172.61%4.10%P/E Ratio54.3724.9626.7626.04Price / Sales1.671.4214.43103.40Price / Cash45.7219.5758.6758.48Price / Book17.999.054.826.61Net Income$7.37B$2.14B$869.87M$265.56M7 Day Performance-1.39%-0.09%1.92%1.95%1 Month Performance1.84%1.95%-2.09%-0.37%1 Year Performance9.02%1.78%16.17%19.02% Costco Wholesale Competitors List Export to ExcelCompanyMarketRankShare PriceAnalysts' Price Target1Y Price PerformanceMarket CapRevenueP/E RatioEmployee CountIndicator(s)COSTCostco Wholesale4.3542 of 5 stars$958.54-1.1%$1,050.00+9.5%+9.2%$430.03B$254.45B54.37333,000Trending NewsInsider TradeAAPLApple4.5699 of 5 stars$230.89-0.3%$237.60+2.9%+1.4%$3.43T$391.04B35.04164,000Trending NewsAnalyst ForecastAMZNAmazon.com4.772 of 5 stars$231.43+0.2%$262.87+13.6%+29.9%$2.47T$637.96B35.281,556,000Trending NewsAnalyst DowngradeInsider TradeCASYCasey's General Stores4.3358 of 5 stars$506.20-0.3%$467.33-7.7%+36.0%$18.82B$15.94B34.5849,272News CoveragePositive NewsLULUlululemon athletica4.7373 of 5 stars$203.62+2.6%$320.70+57.5%-21.2%$24.40B$10.59B13.8039,000News CoverageUpcoming EarningsAnalyst ForecastShort Interest ↑Analyst RevisionROSTRoss Stores4.7 of 5 stars$146.06-0.6%$159.06+8.9%-3.5%$47.77B$21.13B23.07107,000Trending NewsEarnings ReportDividend AnnouncementAnalyst ForecastAnalyst RevisionGap UpULTAUlta Beauty3.5556 of 5 stars$516.87-0.8%$475.17-8.1%+41.5%$23.23B$11.30B20.1958,000Trending NewsUpcoming EarningsAnalyst ForecastBURLBurlington Stores4.4959 of 5 stars$278.06-0.8%$317.57+14.2%+4.8%$17.54B$10.63B34.1277,532Trending NewsUpcoming EarningsAnalyst ForecastHDHome Depot4.4635 of 5 stars$394.68-1.2%$427.76+8.4%+13.0%$392.68B$159.51B26.78520,700Trending NewsEarnings ReportDividend AnnouncementAnalyst ForecastInsider TradeAnalyst RevisionTGTTarget4.955 of 5 stars$105.00+1.9%$115.42+9.9%-36.9%$47.71B$106.57B11.54440,000Trending NewsEarnings ReportAnalyst UpgradeAnalyst RevisionWMTWalmart4.6607 of 5 stars$100.65+0.7%$109.89+9.2%+28.1%$803.23B$680.99B43.012,100,000Trending NewsEarnings ReportAnalyst ForecastInsider TradeAnalyst Revision Related Companies and Tools Related Companies AAPL Competitors AMZN Competitors CASY Competitors LULU Competitors ROST Competitors ULTA Competitors BURL Competitors HD Competitors TGT Competitors WMT Competitors Top 10 Stock Comparisons Semiconductor Stocks Artificial Intelligence Stocks Growth Stocks Magnificent Seven Stocks Pharmaceutical Stocks Ecommerce Stocks Bitcoin Stocks Meme Stocks Cryptocurrency Stocks Cybersecurity Stocks This page (NASDAQ:COST) was last updated on 8/23/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff From Our PartnersBONUS GUIDE - Ben Stein Prepares For the Next Financial CrisisWith inflation high, debt soaring, and global tensions rising, a financial storm may be brewing. 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