Costco Wholesale Corporation
Rank #128Capital ReturnCOST · Nasdaq · Consumer Defensive
Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST) — Rank #128 by gross profitability (GP/assets 0.41) · ROE 24.2% · Piotroski F-Score 6 / 9.
As-of 2026-09-15 · CIK 0000909832 · all metrics point-in-time as of the filing date.
About
Costco Wholesale Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the operation of membership warehouses in the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico, Japan, the United Kingdom, Korea, Australia, Taiwan, China, Spain, France, Iceland, New Zealand, and Sweden.
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It offers merchandise, including sundries, dry groceries, candies, coolers, freezers, deli, liquor, and tobacco; non-food merchandise comprising appliances, small electronics, health and beauty aids, hardware, lawn and garden, sporting goods, tires, toys and seasonal, automotive, stamps, tickets, apparel, furniture, domestics, housewares, special order kiosks, and jewelry; and fresh food, such as meat, produce, service deli, and bakery products. The company is also involved in warehouse ancillary operations, which include gasoline, pharmacies, optical, food courts, hearing-aid centers, and tire installation centers. In addition, it engages in e-commerce, business centers, travel, and other businesses. The company was formerly known as Costco Companies, Inc. and changed its name to Costco Wholesale Corporation in August 1999.
Costco Wholesale Corporation was founded in 1976 and is based in Issaquah, Washington.
- Industry
- Discount Stores
- Sector
- Consumer Defensive
- State
- WA
- Filer Category
- Large accelerated filer
- Fiscal Year End
- August 30
- Website
- costco.com
Financials
Stable
Direction over 5 fiscal years
- Free cash flowimproving
- Gross marginstable
- Gross profitabilitystable
- Net cashimproving
- Operating marginstable
- Return on equitystable
- Share count (dilution)improving
Red flags: fcf_ni_divergence_unfavorable — rating capped at Stable
Monitoring diagnostic of business direction — not a prediction of returns.
Each fiscal year is read as-of that year’s own 10-K filing, so nothing restated after the fact leaks backwards. Line items this filer never tagged are omitted. Hover or tap a badge for the diagnostic behind it.
| Fiscal year end | 2025-08-31filed 2025-10-08 | 2024-09-01filed 2024-10-09 | 2023-09-03filed 2023-10-11 | 2022-08-28filed 2022-10-05 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Income statement | ||||
| Revenue | 275,235.0 | 254,453.0 | 242,290.0 | 226,954.0 |
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 8.2% | 5.0% | 6.8% | 15.8% |
| Gross profit | 35,349.0 | 32,095.0 | 29,704.0 | 27,572.0 |
| Gross margin | 12.8% | 12.6% | 12.3% | 12.1% |
| Net income | 8,099.0 | 7,367.0 | 6,292.0 | 5,844.0 |
| Net margin | 2.9% | 2.9% | 2.6% | 2.6% |
| EPS (diluted) | $18.21 | $16.56 | $14.16 | $13.14 |
| EPS growth (YoY) | 10.0% | 16.9% | 7.8% | — |
| Cash flow | ||||
| Operating cash flow | 13,335.0 | 11,339.0 | 11,068.0 | 7,392.0 |
| Capital expenditures | 5,498.0 | 4,710.0 | 4,323.0 | 3,891.0 |
| Free cash flow | 7,837.0 | 6,629.0 | 6,745.0 | 3,501.0 |
Figures are as originally filed with the SEC (point-in-time), not restated, so they can differ slightly from sites that show later-restated numbers. Why point-in-time?