Costco Wholesale Corp

Consumer Discretionary
Department/Specialty Retail Stores
www.costco.com

Earnings Score
Moat Score
Safety Score
Final Score

Market Cap $448.85B
PE 59
Debt $5.97B
Cash $12.36B
EV $442.46B
FCF $6.93B

Earnings

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Sales & Net Margins

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Earnings	$7.62B
EBIT	$10.12B
ROE	30%
ROA	14%
FCF	$6.93B
Equity	$25.58B
Growth Stability	100%
PE	58.9
PEG	3.84
PB	17.55
P/FCF	64.82
P/S	1.7
Price/Cash	0.03
Debt/Equity	0.23
Debt/FCF	0.86
Net Margins	3%
Gross Margins	13%
Op. Margins	4%
Earnings CAGR	15%
Sales Growth YoY	9%
Sales Growth QoQ	3%
Sales CAGR	11%
FCF CAGR	16%
Equity CAGR	10%
Earnings Stability	0.99
Earnings Growth YoY	3%
Earnings Growth QoQ	-1%
Earnings CAGR 5Y	15%

Sales CAGR 5Y	11%
FCF CAGR 5Y	5%
Equity CAGR 5Y	10%
Earnings CAGR 3Y	7%
Sales CAGR 3Y	7%
FCF CAGR 3Y	27%
Equity CAGR 3Y	6%
Market Cap	$448.85B
Revenue	$264.09B
Dividend Yield	0%
Payout Ratio	20%
Assets	$73.22B
Total Debt	$5.97B
Cash	$12.36B
Shares Outstanding	443.73M
EV	442.46B
Earnings Score	95%
Moat Score	86%
Safety Score	96%
Final Score	93%
Working Capital	-102M
Current Ratio	1
Gross Profit	$33.47B
Shares Growth 3y	0%
Equity Growth QoQ	5%
Equity Growth YoY	23%

Assets & ROA

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Stockholders Equity & ROE

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The leading warehouse club, Costco has 815 stores worldwide (at the end of fiscal 2021), with most sales derived in the United States (72%) and Canada (14%). It sells memberships that allow customers to shop in its warehouses, which feature low prices on a limited product assortment. Costco mainly caters to individual shoppers, but roughly 20% of paid members carry business memberships. Food and sundries accounted for 40% of fiscal 2021 sales, with non-food merchandise 29%, warehouse ancillary and other businesses (such as fuel and pharmacy) nearly 17%, and fresh food 14%. Costco's warehouses average around 146,000 square feet; over 75% of its locations offer fuel. About 7% of Costco's global sales come from e-commerce (excluding same-day grocery and various other services).

SEC Filings

Direct access to Costco Wholesale Corp (COST) Annual Reports (10K) and Quarterly Reports (10Q) from the SEC website.

2025
- 10-Q Feb 16
2024
- 10-Q Nov 24
- 10-K Sep 01
- 10-Q May 12
- 10-Q Feb 18
2023
- 10-Q Nov 26
- 10-K Sep 03
- 10-Q May 07
- 10-Q Feb 12

Sector Comparison

How does Costco Wholesale Corp compare to its competitors?

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Peter Lynch's Chart

This chart shows the current pricing of Costco Wholesale Corp compared to its past. The addition of the earnings trend line provides further insights into the company's earnings power.

CAGR 15%

Stability 99%

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Costco Wholesale Corp Discounted Cash Flow

Fully customizable DCF calculator online for Costco Wholesale Corp .

Years

Calculation mode

= $213B

	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	TV
fcf	$6.9B	$8B	$9.3B	$11B	$13B	$15B	$17B	$20B	$23B	$26B	$31B	$307B
DCF		$7.3B	$7.7B	$8.1B	$8.6B	$9.1B	$9.6B	$10B	$11B	$11B	$12B	$119B
Value	$213B

Competitiveness and MOAT

High margins render the company resilient under dire circumstances, hence able to drive competitors out or acquire them. ROE and ROA measure the average flow generated by each invested dollar. Their marginal value is a forecast of future growth, and it is considered by Buffett and Munger the most important single indicator.

Years	08/2015	08/2016	09/2017	09/2018	08/2019	08/2020	08/2021	08/2022	09/2023	08/2024	TTM
Net Margins	2%	2%	2%	2%	2%	2%	3%	3%	3%	3%	3%
ROA	-	11%	11%	11%	10%	10%	11%	12%	12%	14%	14%
ROE	-	19%	24%	24%	23%	21%	28%	28%	25%	31%	30%

Bad Net Margins (2.85%)

Net Margins are too low to guarantee profitability in case of higher costs or higher interest rates. Furthermore lower margins cause higher earnings’ volatility.

Safety and Stability

Being debt the number one cause of investment losses and company death, the ratio Debt/FCF is of utmost importance to guarantee safety. On the other hand the Graham’s stability measures the drawdown of earnings, hence indicating the reliability of the flow generated by the company.

Years	08/2015	08/2016	09/2017	09/2018	08/2019	08/2020	08/2021	08/2022	09/2023	08/2024	TTM
Debt over FCF	-	9.75	1.61	2.39	2.55	1.28	1.55	1.9	1.12	0.91	0.86
Debt over Equity	0.69	0.51	0.61	0.51	0.55	0.41	0.46	0.32	0.3	0.25	0.23
Growth Stability	-	-	-	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%

Good Debt/FCF ratio (0.86)

Net Margins are high enough to offer a good protection on the profits in case of higher costs or higher interests. Furthermore higher margins reduce earnings’ volatility.

Good Debt/Equity ratio (0.23)

The company is not overleveraged and has a good balance between equity and debt.

Good Graham’s Stability (100%)

The company has a good stability in its earnings, which is a sign of a good competitive advantage.

Growth

Growth can be dangerous when forecasting, simply projecting the current growth is in general wrong. A company passes through multiple phases, from being young and unprofitable, to the first periods of profitability and high growth, until it arrives at a period of regime with limited growth. Identifying in which phase the company is in may help forecasting.

Years	08/2015	08/2016	09/2017	09/2018	08/2019	08/2020	08/2021	08/2022	09/2023	08/2024	CAGR 5Y
Revenue YoY growth	-	2%	9%	10%	8%	9%	17%	16%	7%	5%	11%
Earnings YoY growth	-	-1%	14%	17%	17%	9%	25%	17%	8%	17%	15%
Equity YoY growth	-	14%	-10%	18%	19%	20%	-3%	14%	21%	-6%	10%
FCF YoY growth	-	-66%	557%	-34%	20%	80%	-11%	-35%	93%	-2%	5%