Latest news with #COST
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Costco Stock: Is Wall Street Bullish or Bearish?
Issaquah, Washington-based Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST) operates a chain of membership-only big-box warehouse club retail stores. With a market cap of $438.5 billion, Costco operates through its outlets spread across North America, Asia, and Europe, and an e-commerce website. The discount retailer has lagged behind the broader market over the past year. COST stock has gained 14.8% over the past 52 weeks and 8.2% on a YTD basis, compared to the S&P 500 Index's ($SPX) 20.6% surge over the past year and 9.6% returns in 2025. More News from Barchart This High-Yield (7%) Dividend Stock Is Down Significantly in 2025. Should You Buy the Dip? Dear CoreWeave Stock Fans, Mark Your Calendars for August 14 Warren Buffett Warns Investing At 'Too-High Purchase Price' Even for 'an Excellent Company' Can Undo a Decade of Smart Investing Tired of missing midday reversals? The FREE Barchart Brief newsletter keeps you in the know. Sign up now! However, narrowing the focus, Costco has outpaced the sector-focused Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund's (XLP) 4.9% uptick over the past 52 weeks and 5.1% gains on a YTD basis. Costco Wholesale's stock prices gained 3.1% in the trading session following the release of its better-than-expected Q3 results on May 29. The company observed high single-digit growth in store sales across regions and a 14.8% growth in e-commerce revenues. Overall, its revenues for the quarter came in at $63.2 billion, up 8% year-over-year and surpassing the Street estimates by a thin margin. Further, its EPS for the quarter surged 13.2% year-over-year to $4.28, exceeding the consensus estimates by 71 bps. While Costco's financials have remained impressive in recent quarters, the company faces a serious threat of macro slowdown. The consumer spending in the US has substantially slowed down in recent months, and the job market has also remained weak, alongside the new tariffs can further dampen prospects for the discount retail industry. For the full fiscal 2025, ending in August, analysts expect Costco to deliver an EPS of $17.97, up 11.6% year-over-year. The company has a mixed earnings surprise history. While it surpassed the Street's bottom-line estimates thrice over the past four quarters, it missed the estimates on one other occasion. Costco has a consensus 'Moderate Buy' rating overall. Of the 32 analysts covering the stock, opinions include 14 'Strong Buys,' four 'Moderate Buys,' and 14 'Holds.' This configuration is notably less optimistic than three months ago, when 16 analysts gave 'Strong Buy' recommendations and five analysts suggested 'Moderate Buy' ratings. On Aug. 5, Erste Group's analyst downgraded COST stock from 'Buy' to 'Hold' due to concerns over the expected slowdown in sales growth in the upcoming fiscal year. As of writing, Costco's mean price target of $1,092.44 represents a 10.2% upside potential. Meanwhile, the street-high target of $1,225 suggests a notable 23.6% premium to current price levels. On the date of publication, Aditya Sarawgi did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. This article was originally published on
Globe and Mail
08-08-2025
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Think You Know Costco? Here's 1 Little-Known Fact You Can't Overlook.
Key Points Costco is a large chain of club stores. Costco's customers pay a fee for the privilege of shopping there. Membership fees are likely far more important than you think. 10 stocks we like better than Costco Wholesale › Most retailers are open to anyone who wishes to walk in and buy stuff. Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ: COST) limits access to its stores to people who have paid a membership fee. This is a huge dynamic shift in retail, but the depth of the change this has on the business may be bigger than you think. Here's one little-known fact you can't overlook with Costco. Costco is a club store Club stores aren't unique. Costco competes with others in the space, including Walmart 's Sam's Club division. But overall, club stores are a niche of the broader retail sector. The big difference between a regular retailer and a club store like Costco is the membership fee that customers pay for the privilege of shopping at a Costco or any of its direct competitors. This is not a small difference. In fact, it is gigantic. For investors, one of the most important metrics to watch with Costco is its membership renewal rate, which generally hovers around 90%. That makes the membership fees an annuity-like income stream. If you look at the company's top line, however, you might think that this isn't a big deal. In the fiscal third quarter of 2025, Costco generated total revenue of roughly $63.2 billion. The vast majority of that came from product sales, with only around $1.2 billion, or less than 2%, derived from membership fees. Digging into the details with Costco's costs From a big-picture perspective, then, Costco's membership fees are barely a rounding error. But that's not the whole story. Membership fees don't really have any costs associated with them, while product sales do. For example, the cost of the merchandise it sold in the fiscal third quarter of 2025 was just shy of $55 billion. Then there were the costs of operating the company's stores. Sales, general, and administrative costs came in at roughly $5.7 billion in the quarter. The gross profit here was just about $2.5 billion, with almost all of the costs coming from the products themselves and the cost of operating stores. This is where things start to get interesting. If membership fees have little cost associated with them, then fee income basically drops right down into gross profit. Since the gross profit was around $2.5 billion and the membership fees tallied up to $1.2 billion, these fees accounted for around half of Costco's gross profit. And that income, assuming the company can keep its membership renewal rate high, is an incredibly valuable annuity-like income stream. Membership fees and the model shift that really matters Costco's membership fees give it the leeway to accept lower margins on the products it sells. That helps keep customers happy. The company has long focused on having strong relations with its employees, too, with the goal of assuring high customer service. And that speaks to the little-known fact hidden right in plain sight here. Costco's business isn't really about selling products to customers, it's about keeping its customers happy so they keep renewing their memberships. Should you invest $1,000 in Costco Wholesale right now? Before you buy stock in Costco Wholesale, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Costco Wholesale wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $635,544!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,099,758!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,046% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 181% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of August 4, 2025
Yahoo
02-08-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Costco (COST) Increases Despite Market Slip: Here's What You Need to Know
Costco (COST) closed the most recent trading day at $952.36, moving +1.35% from the previous trading session. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 1.6%. On the other hand, the Dow registered a loss of 1.23%, and the technology-centric Nasdaq decreased by 2.24%. Heading into today, shares of the warehouse club operator had lost 4.8% over the past month, lagging the Retail-Wholesale sector's gain of 2.64% and the S&P 500's gain of 2.25%. Investors will be eagerly watching for the performance of Costco in its upcoming earnings disclosure. The company is forecasted to report an EPS of $5.8, showcasing a 12.62% upward movement from the corresponding quarter of the prior year. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $85.83 billion, up 7.7% from the prior-year quarter. COST's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $17.97 per share and revenue of $274.97 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +11.55% and +8.06%, respectively. Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Costco. These latest adjustments often mirror the shifting dynamics of short-term business patterns. Consequently, upward revisions in estimates express analysts' positivity towards the business operations and its ability to generate profits. Our research demonstrates that these adjustments in estimates directly associate with imminent stock price performance. To utilize this, we have created the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model that integrates these estimate changes and provides a functional rating system. The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.39% lower. Costco presently features a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). Looking at valuation, Costco is presently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 52.3. This expresses a premium compared to the average Forward P/E of 21.93 of its industry. We can additionally observe that COST currently boasts a PEG ratio of 5.84. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. Retail - Discount Stores stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 2.61 based on yesterday's closing prices. The Retail - Discount Stores industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. Currently, this industry holds a Zacks Industry Rank of 169, positioning it in the bottom 32% of all 250+ industries. The Zacks Industry Rank is ordered from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1. Be sure to use to monitor all these stock-influencing metrics, and more, throughout the forthcoming trading sessions. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research ( Zacks Investment Research Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
30-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Why Costco (COST) is a Top Dividend Stock to Buy in August
Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) is included among the 10 Best Dividend Stocks to Buy in August. A customer in a warehouse aisles, browsing the wide range of branded and private-label products. Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST), a top membership-based warehouse retailer known for selling bulk items, posted strong sales results for June. According to a recent company update, Costco Wholesale reported a 5.8% increase in total comparable sales for the month. US comparable sales alone grew by 4.7%. Monthly net sales reached $26.44 billion, marking an 8% increase from $24.48 billion in the same period a year earlier. When excluding the effects of fuel prices and foreign exchange, total comparable sales rose 6.2%, while US sales adjusted for those factors were up 5.5%. The company continues to grow steadily despite its already massive size. For the current fiscal year, which wraps up around late August, the company plans to add a net total of 24 new warehouse locations. Looking ahead, the leadership team is targeting the opening of 25 to 30 new stores annually, with significant growth potential still available in both the US and global markets. Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) is a solid dividend payer. On July 16, the company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.30 per share, having raised it by 12% in April. This marked the company's 21st consecutive year of dividend growth, which makes COST one of the best dividend stocks. COST has a dividend yield of 0.56%, as of July 28. While we acknowledge the potential of COST as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: and . Disclosure: None. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
29-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Costco's Q4 2025 Earnings: What to Expect
Issaquah, Washington-based Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST) is a leading membership-based warehouse retailer that sells high volumes of food and general merchandise at discounted prices. Valued at a market capitalization of $414.9 billion, the company offers a wide variety of products, including groceries, household essentials, lifestyle goods, electronics, appliances, and stationery. It is expected to announce its fiscal Q4 earnings for 2025 on Thursday, Sept. 25. Ahead of the event, analysts anticipate this retail company to report a profit of $5.80 per share, up 12.6% from $5.15 per share in the year-ago quarter. The company has surpassed Wall Street's earnings estimates in three of the last four quarters, while missing on one occasion. In Q3, COST's EPS of $4.28 outpaced the forecasted figure by a slight margin. More News from Barchart Tesla Just Signed a Chip Supply Deal with Samsung. What Does That Mean for TSLA Stock? Dear Microsoft Stock Fans, Mark Your Calendars for Aug. 1 Is Lucid Motors Stock a Buy, Sell, or Hold for July 2025? Tired of missing midday reversals? The FREE Barchart Brief newsletter keeps you in the know. Sign up now! For fiscal 2025, analysts tracking the company expect its profit to be $17.97 per share, up 11.6% from $16.11 per share in fiscal 2024. Furthermore, its EPS is expected to grow 10.9% year over year (YoY) to $19.93 in fiscal 2026. COST stock has lagged behind the S&P 500 Index's ($SPX) 17.1% uptick over the past 52 weeks, with its shares up 14.2% over the same time frame. Nonetheless, it has outpaced the Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund's (XLP) 2.8% gain over the same period. On May 29, Costco Wholesale released impressive Q3 earnings results, and its shares surged 3.1% in the following trading session. Due to strong growth in sales across the U.S., Canada, and other international markets, the company's total revenue improved 8% YoY to $63.2 billion. Moreover, its net income per share of $4.28 advanced 13.2% annually, topping analyst estimates by a slight margin. Wall Street analysts are moderately optimistic about COST stock, with an overall "Moderate Buy" rating. Among 32 analysts covering the stock, 15 recommend a "Strong Buy," four indicate a "Moderate Buy," and 13 advise a 'Hold.' The mean price target for COST is $1,094.18, indicating a 17.2% upside potential. On the date of publication, Neharika Jain did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. This article was originally published on Sign in to access your portfolio
