Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST): Price and Financial Metrics
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COST POWR Grades
- COST scores best on the Stability dimension, with a Stability rank ahead of 72.15% of US stocks.
- COST's strongest trending metric is Quality; it's been moving down over the last 31 weeks.
- COST ranks lowest in Sentiment; there it ranks in the 56th percentile.
COST Stock Summary
- With a market capitalization of $186,650,411,602, Costco Wholesale Corp has a greater market value than 98.82% of US stocks.
- Costco Wholesale Corp's capital turnover -- a measure of revenue relative to shareholder's equity -- is better than 97.29% of US listed stocks.
- The volatility of Costco Wholesale Corp's share price is greater than that of merely 6.87% US stocks with at least 200 days of trading history.
- Stocks with similar financial metrics, market capitalization, and price volatility to Costco Wholesale Corp are TMUS, MRK, SAP, CVX, and TXN.
- COST's SEC filings can be seen here. And to visit Costco Wholesale Corp's official web site, go to www.costco.com.
COST Valuation Summary
- COST's price/sales ratio is 1; this is 33.33% lower than that of the median Consumer Defensive stock.
- Over the past 243 months, COST's price/sales ratio has gone up 0.4.
- COST's price/sales ratio has moved up 0.4 over the prior 243 months.
Below are key valuation metrics over time for COST.
| Stock | Date | P/S | P/B | P/E | EV/EBIT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| COST | 2020-10-07 | 1.0 | 8.8 | 40.0 | 28.9 |
| COST | 2015-06-19 | 0.5 | 5.8 | 26.7 | 17.3 |
| COST | 2014-04-11 | 0.5 | 4.3 | 25.1 | 15.6 |
| COST | 2009-09-25 | 0.3 | 2.6 | 22.1 | 12.8 |
| COST | 2005-09-29 | 0.4 | 2.3 | 20.3 | 12.0 |
| COST | 2004-11-01 | 0.5 | 3.1 | 26.9 | 15.7 |
COST Price Target
For more insight on analysts targets of COST, see our COST price target page. And for a list of of all stocks sorted by upside potential based on analyst target price, see our Top Price Target page.
| Average Price Target | $408.41 | Average Broker Recommendation | 1.56 (Moderate Buy) |
COST Stock Price Chart Interactive Chart >
COST Price/Volume Stats
| Current price | $424.78 | 52-week high | $425.40 |
| Prev. close | $422.22 | 52-week low | $307.00 |
| Day low | $420.36 | Volume | 948,272 |
| Day high | $425.40 | Avg. volume | 2,413,582 |
| 50-day MA | $396.10 | Dividend yield | 0.75% |
| 200-day MA | $371.55 | Market Cap | 187.78B |
Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST) Company Bio
Costco Wholesale operates membership warehouses, offering branded and private-label products in a range of merchandise categories. The company also operates gas stations, pharmacies, food courts, optical dispensing centers, photo processing centers, and hearing-aid centers,; and engages in the travel business. The company was founded in 1976 and is based in Issaquah, Washington.
COST Price Forecast Based on DCF Valuation
| Current Price | DCF Fair Value Target: | Forecasted Gain: |
| $424.78 | $219.31 | -42% |
We started the process of determining a valid price forecast for Costco Wholesale Corp with a discounted cash flow analysis -- the results of which can be found in the table below. To summarize, we found that Costco Wholesale Corp ranked in the 40th percentile in terms of potential gain offered. Our DCF analysis suggests the stock is overvalued by about 42.17%. As for the metrics that stood out in our discounted cash flow analysis of Costco Wholesale Corp, consider:
- As a business, COST is generating more cash flow than 89.24% of positive cash flow stocks in the Consumer Defensive.
- The business' balance sheet reveals debt to be 6% of the company's capital (with equity being the remaining amount). Approximately just 19.48% of US stocks with free cash flow have a lower reliance on debt in their capital structure.
- COST's estimated cost of debt, based largely on its market capitalization and its interest coverage ratio, is 3%; for context, that number is higher than 46.04% of tickers in our DCF set.
| Terminal Growth Rate in Free Cash Flow | Return Relative to Current Share Price |
| 0% | -44% |
| 1% | -43% |
| 2% | -42% |
| 3% | -42% |
| 4% | -41% |
| 5% | -41% |
HSY, KMB, CCEP, DAR, and INGR can be thought of as valuation peers to COST, in the sense that they are in the Consumer Defensive sector and have a similar price forecast based on DCF valuation.
Latest COST News From Around the Web
Below are the latest news stories about Costco Wholesale Corp that investors may wish to consider to help them evaluate COST as an investment opportunity.
Uber Technologies Delivers People and Packages But Not ProfitsUber has made a lot of acquisitions to increase its delivery footprint, but it faces increasing difficulty hiring new drivers based on its past practices. |
Has Costco Wholesale (COST) Outpaced Other Retail-Wholesale Stocks This Year?Is (COST) Outperforming Other Retail-Wholesale Stocks This Year? |
3 Smaller Most-Shorted Stocks to BuyIt may be curtains for the apes' high-profile, most-shorted stocks, but others may become the real deal with other bullish investors. |
Costco will raise membership fees about 8%, Stifel forecastsStifel analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Corp. will raise membership fees by 8.3% in the next year. The increase would move Gold Star-level membership up $5 to $65 per year and Executive membership up $10 to $130 per year. "Costco shares have outperformed the S&P 500 in the 12 months leading to a membership fee increase announcement in each of the three price increases since 2006 (2006, 2011, and 2017)," analysts led by Mark Astrachan wrote. Costco shares are up 29.3% for the past 12 month |
Shareholders Of Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Must Be Happy With Their 182% Total ReturnThe most you can lose on any stock (assuming you don't use leverage) is 100% of your money. But on the bright side, you... |
COST Price Returns
| 1-mo | 6.72% |
| 3-mo | 14.37% |
| 6-mo | 21.25% |
| 1-year | 31.56% |
| 3-year | 99.58% |
| 5-year | 178.44% |
| YTD | 13.42% |
| 2020 | 29.28% |
| 2019 | 45.70% |
| 2018 | 10.60% |
| 2017 | 22.37% |
| 2016 | 0.28% |
COST Dividends
| Ex-Dividend Date | Type | Payout Amount | Change | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Continue Researching COST
Here are a few links from around the web to help you further your research on Costco Wholesale Corp's stock as an investment opportunity:Costco Wholesale Corp (COST) Stock Price | Nasdaq
Costco Wholesale Corp (COST) Stock Quote, History and News - Yahoo Finance
Costco Wholesale Corp (COST) Stock Price and Basic Information | MarketWatch
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