Latest news with #SolPrice
CNBC
03-05-2025
- Business
- CNBC
Costco co-founder still goes into the office weekly at age 89: 'To be successful, you've got to be pretty focused'
Costco co-founder Jim Sinegal is retired … for the most part. The 89-year-old former CEO of the beloved warehouse chain stepped down from his role in 2012. But Sinegal still goes to the office some Tuesdays, a nod to the work ethic and commitment he learned from his mentor, the late retail businessman and philanthropist Sol Price. "I think to be successful, you've got to be pretty focused," Sinegal said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal published on April 16. He added that, "if you can find a mentor like I did, like Sol Price, it can make a significant difference in your life." For Sinegal, staying involved in his company is a no brainer. He dedicated a huge chunk of his life to retail, getting his start as a bagger at Price's FedMart at age 18. Sinegal worked his way up to the C-suite before launching Costco alongside businessman and investor Jeff Brotman. There, he served as president and CEO for almost 30 years. Sinegal "always loved" working in the grocery industry and viewed his job as more of a hobby, he told The Wall Street Journal. As for work-life balance, staying busy in a role he loves, even after retirement, is the icing on the cake. "I think there are three things that you have to worry about," he said. "Worry about your livelihood, you gotta worry about your health and you gotta worry about your family. Anything else you do is a bonus, if you're able to sneak it in there." Sinegal has offered similar advice to students and young entrepreneurs over the years. If you "find something you are really passionate about and you won't have to work a day in your life," he noted in a 2016 speech to Loyola Marymount University students. In addition to going into the office, Sinegal says he still tries to visit Costco stores regularly — not out of any feeling of obligation, but because he's passionate about the company. "Nobody is holding a gun to my head," he said in 2016. "I do it because I love it, [and] if you can find something you love, it will be a great gift for you." Twenty-eight percent of retirees experience depression, which is higher than that of the overall older adult population, according to a 2020 study. That's one of the reasons why it's so important that workers be honest with themselves when considering what their last decades should look like, Harvard business administration professor and author Teresa M. Amabile wrote for CNBC Make It in November 2024. "My research team at Harvard Business School and I spent a decade interviewing people to uncover the psychological, relational and life restructuring challenges of retiring — and how best to navigate them," Amabile wrote. "We discovered that identity issues can loom large for people." Amabile recommends that younger employees ask themselves, "Would I be more likely to say that my work is what I do or my work is who I am?" If you realize your work is who you are, "that insight could help you consider to what extent your strong work identity holds you back from starting a possibly wonderful retirement life," she wrote. Afterward, write down the values and characteristics you have that you deem important. If you write down something like "hard worker," for example, you can "bridge that identity gap" by finding another way to practice dedication, like gardening, going to the gym or becoming more active in your community. "Consider who you are in your career life, which pieces of your working self you'll be able to take with you, and which ones you want to leave behind," wrote Amabile. "If you can do that honestly, you're more likely to find a satisfying retirement on the other side."
Yahoo
17-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Which Is the Better Stock to Buy and Hold Forever: Amazon or Costco?
You couldn't have gone wrong buying shares of Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) or Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ: COST) in the two companies' early days. A $10,000 investment in Costco when the giant wholesaler went public in 1985 would be worth almost $11.9 million today. If you had bought $10,000 of Amazon's shares after its IPO in 1997 and held them, you'd now have nearly $23.4 million. Both Amazon and Costco have delivered exceptional gains over the last 12 months, too. But which is the better stock to buy and hold forever? The primary reason behind the tremendous stock performances of Amazon and Costco is that both companies have great underlying businesses. However, they're very different from each other. Amazon is best known for its industry-leading online shopping platform. Its distribution and logistics operations that support this platform, though, are arguably the real secret to the company's e-commerce success. Thanks largely to these operations, Amazon has ranked as the lowest-priced U.S. retailer by Profitero for eight consecutive years. No company has been better at identifying new growth opportunities over the years than Amazon, in my opinion. It kicked off the cloud services market with the establishment of Amazon Web Services (AWS). Last year, AWS generated $107.6 billion in revenue and operating income of $39.8 billion. Costco didn't invent the warehouse wholesale market. That honor belongs to Sol Price's Price Club. However, Costco perfected the business model. The company opened its first warehouse in 1983. In less than six years, its sales skyrocketed from $0 to $3 billion -- the first company to achieve such rapid growth. Costco also subsequently merged with Price Club in 1993. Today, Costco operates 897 warehouses in 14 countries. It also has a significant e-commerce business. The company has 77.4 million paid members and counting. And they're loyal customers: Costco's worldwide membership renewal rate is 90.4%. Amazon's greatest growth opportunity is in cloud services. Currently, around 90% of global IT spending remains on-premises, with roughly 10% of spending in the cloud. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy believes this dynamic will flip over the next 10 to 15 years. With the surging deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) models in the cloud, Jassy's view seems realistic. As the biggest cloud services provider, AWS should be a huge winner from this shift. Jassy has a similar take on e-commerce. Physical stores still make up between 80% and 85% of the global retail market. Over the next 10 to 20 years, Jassy predicts that the equation will flip, with e-commerce dominating the retail market. Again, Amazon is poised to be a major beneficiary if Jassy is right. As it has in the past, Amazon is also expanding into new arenas. Advertising should become an even more important growth driver for the company in the coming years on its e-commerce platform and Prime Video. Amazon's planned launches of its Kuiper satellites to provide internet services is another long-term growth opportunity. Costco has a clear path to grow as well. Perhaps the most obvious opportunity is international expansion. Most of the company's warehouse locations are in the U.S. Adding products and services that boost profits at existing and new warehouses is another good way for Costco to grow. For example, the company's Kirkland Signature private-label brands are growing faster than the overall business. Costco also has great expectations for its retail media strategy. It began last year building an ad network using an extensive database of member's buying histories. E-commerce is another key opportunity for Costco. The company's digital business is growing quickly, with top sales categories including home furnishings, appliances, hardware, and sporting goods. I like both of these businesses. However, I think that Amazon is hands-down the better long-term pick. Importantly, Amazon has more growth opportunities than Costco does. Several of those opportunities, notably including cloud services, are also much larger than Costco's. Interestingly, though, higher growth expectations are baked into Costco's share price than with Amazon. Costco's shares trade at roughly 58.5 times forward earnings, with a price-to-earnings-to-growth (PEG) ratio based on five-year growth projections of 6.36. Amazon has a forward earnings multiple of 35.5 with a PEG ratio of 1.85. I don't expect Amazon to deliver the same level of growth that it has over the last 20 years. However, this stock should continue to be a winner for investors for a long time to come. Before you buy stock in Amazon, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Amazon wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $850,946!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 959% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 178% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list. Learn more » *Stock Advisor returns as of February 7, 2025 John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Keith Speights has positions in Amazon. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon and Costco Wholesale. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Which Is the Better Stock to Buy and Hold Forever: Amazon or Costco? was originally published by The Motley Fool Sign in to access your portfolio
Globe and Mail
16-02-2025
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Which Is the Better Stock to Buy and Hold Forever: Amazon or Costco?
You couldn't have gone wrong buying shares of Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) or Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ: COST) in the two companies' early days. A $10,000 investment in Costco when the giant wholesaler went public in 1985 would be worth almost $11.9 million today. If you had bought $10,000 of Amazon's shares after its IPO in 1997 and held them, you'd now have nearly $23.4 million. Both Amazon and Costco have delivered exceptional gains over the last 12 months, too. But which is the better stock to buy and hold forever? Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Learn More » Two great businesses The primary reason behind the tremendous stock performances of Amazon and Costco is that both companies have great underlying businesses. However, they're very different from each other. Amazon is best known for its industry-leading online shopping platform. Its distribution and logistics operations that support this platform, though, are arguably the real secret to the company's e-commerce success. Thanks largely to these operations, Amazon has ranked as the lowest-priced U.S. retailer by Profitero for eight consecutive years. No company has been better at identifying new growth opportunities over the years than Amazon, in my opinion. It kicked off the cloud services market with the establishment of Amazon Web Services (AWS). Last year, AWS generated $107.6 billion in revenue and operating income of $39.8 billion. Costco didn't invent the warehouse wholesale market. That honor belongs to Sol Price's Price Club. However, Costco perfected the business model. The company opened its first warehouse in 1983. In less than six years, its sales skyrocketed from $0 to $3 billion -- the first company to achieve such rapid growth. Costco also subsequently merged with Price Club in 1993. Today, Costco operates 897 warehouses in 14 countries. It also has a significant e-commerce business. The company has 77.4 million paid members and counting. And they're loyal customers: Costco's worldwide membership renewal rate is 90.4%. Looking ahead Amazon's greatest growth opportunity is in cloud services. Currently, around 90% of global IT spending remains on-premises, with roughly 10% of spending in the cloud. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy believes this dynamic will flip over the next 10 to 15 years. With the surging deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) models in the cloud, Jassy's view seems realistic. As the biggest cloud services provider, AWS should be a huge winner from this shift. Jassy has a similar take on e-commerce. Physical stores still make up between 80% and 85% of the global retail market. Over the next 10 to 20 years, Jassy predicts that the equation will flip, with e-commerce dominating the retail market. Again, Amazon is poised to be a major beneficiary if Jassy is right. As it has in the past, Amazon is also expanding into new arenas. Advertising should become an even more important growth driver for the company in the coming years on its e-commerce platform and Prime Video. Amazon's planned launches of its Kuiper satellites to provide internet services is another long-term growth opportunity. Costco has a clear path to grow as well. Perhaps the most obvious opportunity is international expansion. Most of the company's warehouse locations are in the U.S. Adding products and services that boost profits at existing and new warehouses is another good way for Costco to grow. For example, the company's Kirkland Signature private-label brands are growing faster than the overall business. Costco also has great expectations for its retail media strategy. It began last year building an ad network using an extensive database of member's buying histories. E-commerce is another key opportunity for Costco. The company's digital business is growing quickly, with top sales categories including home furnishings, appliances, hardware, and sporting goods. Better long-term pick? I like both of these businesses. However, I think that Amazon is hands-down the better long-term pick. Importantly, Amazon has more growth opportunities than Costco does. Several of those opportunities, notably including cloud services, are also much larger than Costco's. Interestingly, though, higher growth expectations are baked into Costco's share price than with Amazon. Costco's shares trade at roughly 58.5 times forward earnings, with a price-to-earnings-to-growth (PEG) ratio based on five-year growth projections of 6.36. Amazon has a forward earnings multiple of 35.5 with a PEG ratio of 1.85. I don't expect Amazon to deliver the same level of growth that it has over the last 20 years. However, this stock should continue to be a winner for investors for a long time to come. Don't miss this second chance at a potentially lucrative opportunity Ever feel like you missed the boat in buying the most successful stocks? Then you'll want to hear this. On rare occasions, our expert team of analysts issues a 'Double Down' stock recommendation for companies that they think are about to pop. If you're worried you've already missed your chance to invest, now is the best time to buy before it's too late. And the numbers speak for themselves: Nvidia: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2009, you'd have $360,040!* Apple: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2008, you'd have $46,374!* Netflix: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2004, you'd have $570,894!* Right now, we're issuing 'Double Down' alerts for three incredible companies, and there may not be another chance like this anytime soon. Learn more » *Stock Advisor returns as of February 3, 2025 John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Keith Speights has positions in Amazon. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon and Costco Wholesale. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
