COST
Costco Wholesale Corporation
COST's fundamentals are mixed, but it looks expensive: trading at 53x earnings, above its usual 43x.
COST Fundamentals
| Metric | Status |
|---|---|
| Healthy | |
| Healthy | |
| Unavailable | |
| Strong |
COST's revenue, profitability and balance sheet are currently healthy. There isn't enough data to rate its cash flow.
COST PE Valuation
| Level | PE | Price | Vs current |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cheap | 37x | $764 | -30% |
| Fair | 43x | $891 | -18% |
| Expensive | 53x | $1,102 | +0.9% |
| Current | 53x | $1,092 | — |
Historical ranges are pointers, not guarantees.
COST's PE is in its expensive range at 53x.
COST Forward outlook
There aren't enough analyst estimates for COST to show an outlook.
COST Earnings Per Share
| Quarter | TTM EPS | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $20.76 | +14% |
| Q2 2026 | $19.88 | +13% |
| Q1 2026 | $19.23 | +12% |
| Q4 2025 | $18.67 | +9.7% |
| Q3 2025 | $18.21 | +10% |
| Q2 2025 | $17.62 | +9.2% |
| Q1 2025 | $17.12 | +12% |
| Q4 2024 | $17.02 | +16% |
COST's earnings per share have climbed steadily: $20.76 over the past year, up 14% from the year before, and higher year over year every quarter since late 2020.
COST Quarterly Revenue
| Quarter | Revenue | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q2 2026 | $70.5B | +12% |
| Q1 2026 | $69.6B | +9.2% |
| Q4 2025 | $67.3B | +8.3% |
| Q3 2025 | $86.2B | +8.1% |
| Q2 2025 | $63.2B | +8% |
| Q1 2025 | $63.7B | +9% |
| Q4 2024 | $62.2B | +7.5% |
| Q3 2024 | $79.7B | +1% |
COST's revenue has grown year over year every quarter since late 2020: $70.5B last quarter, up 12% from the same quarter a year ago.
| Quarter | Margin | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q2 2026 | 4% | 0 points |
| Q1 2026 | 3.7% | +0.1 points |
| Q4 2025 | 3.7% | +0.1 points |
| Q3 2025 | 3.9% | +0.1 points |
| Q2 2025 | 4% | +0.3 points |
| Q1 2025 | 3.6% | +0.1 points |
| Q4 2024 | 3.5% | +0.1 points |
| Q3 2024 | 3.8% | +0.3 points |
COST's operating margin was 4% last quarter, about level with the same quarter a year ago.
COST Free Cash Flow
| Quarter | Free cash flow | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 2026 | $1.7B | +6% |
| Q4 2025 | $3.2B | +58% |
| Q1 2025 | $1.6B | +$1.9B |
| Q4 2024 | $2B | -45% |
| Q1 2024 | -$300M | -113% |
| Q4 2023 | $3.6B | +133% |
| Q2 2023 | $721M | +93% |
| Q1 2023 | $2.3B | +$2.6B |
COST generated $8.5B in free cash flow over the past year, up 41% from the year before.
COST Total Shares
| Period | Change % | Net change |
|---|---|---|
| Quarterly | 0% | -3K shares |
| 1 year | -0.1% | -376K shares |
| 3 years | 0% | -25K shares |
| 5 years | 0% | +81K shares |
| Available history | +0.2% | +747K shares |
COST has 444M diluted shares, about the same as a year ago.
| Quarter | Spent |
|---|---|
| Q2 2026 | $184M |
| Q1 2026 | $209M |
| Q4 2025 | $210M |
| Q1 2025 | $205M |
| Q4 2024 | $207M |
| Q1 2024 | $160M |
| Q4 2023 | $162M |
| Q2 2023 | $162M |
COST Net Leverage
| Quarter | Net Leverage | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 2020 | -0.3x | Net Cash |
| Q4 2019 | -0.4x | Net Cash |
COST has more cash than debt.
COST Weekly Momentum
| Metric | Value | Status |
|---|---|---|
| RSI | 71.8 | Overbought |
| Stochastic | 91.5 | Overbought |
COST's weekly RSI is 72 (overbought) and its Stochastic is 91 (overbought).
COST PE vs Consumer Defensive Sector
| Metric | COST | Sector median | Relative |
|---|---|---|---|
| PE | 53x | 19x | 170% above |
| PE % | 80 | 18 | 62 pts above |
COST is trading at 53x earnings, a 170% premium to the Consumer Defensive sector's median of 19x.
COST Weekly Moving Averages
| Moving average | MA price | Relative |
|---|---|---|
| 8 week MA | $992.6 | 10% above |
| 20 week MA | $957.7 | 14% above |
| 50 week MA | $964.9 | 13% above |
| 100 week MA | $964.1 | 13% above |
| 200 week MA | $821.6 | 33% above |
COST is in an uptrend: it's above all five of its weekly moving averages, and 33% above its 200-week average.
COST Yearly ROI
| Year | Start price | End price | ROI |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $294.1 | $364.6 | +24% |
| 2021 | $364.6 | $550.4 | +51% |
| 2022 | $550.4 | $462.7 | -16% |
| 2023 | $462.7 | $660.1 | +43% |
| 2024 | $660.1 | $939.7 | +42% |
| 2025 | $939.7 | $873.4 | -7.1% |
| 2026 YTD | $873.4 | $1,092.2 | +25% |
COST has finished higher in four of the last six years. It's up 25% so far in 2026.