Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST) Stock Analysis
Latest ClaritX AI analysis ·
Costco Wholesale Corporation, alongside its group entities, operates membership-based retail warehouses across a broad international scope, spanning the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Spain, France, Iceland, China, and Taiwan. These outlets provide customers with an extensive array of both well-known branded and proprietary private-label products. Their vast inventory includes household staples, shelf-stable groceries, confectionery, chilled and frozen items, alcoholic beverages, tobacco, and deli selections. Furthermore, the stores stock major appliances, consumer electronics, health and beauty aids, hardware, garden and patio
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Price | $923.52 |
| Market cap | $409.6B |
| Sector | Consumer Defensive |
| Industry | Discount Stores |
| ClaritX AI score | 83/100 |
| Price/Book | 11.45 |
| Dividend yield | 0.60% |
| Beta | 0.85 |
AI verdict
Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST) unequivocally remains an elite, wide-moat compounder and a structural anchor for any defensive equity portfolio. The underlying financial engine is utterly flawless, boasting a phenomenal Return on Equity of 28.02%, robust trailing Free Cash Flow of $21.15 per share, and an impenetrable balance sheet flush with $47.98 in cash per share. This massive liquidity effortlessly secures its ultra-conservative 26.6% dividend payout ratio while consistently fueling highly credible speculation for future special dividends. While the valuation is undeniably steep at 33.42x trailing earnings, this premium is largely justified by its recurring membership revenue, pricing power, and 13.68x inventory turnover that traditional retail peers cannot replicate. Crucially, from a strict risk-management framework, the stock's current distance from its euphoric 52-week high of $1,096.50 sits at a highly attractive 15.77% discount. A retail asset purchased at its absolute peak driven by exuberance carries immense multiple-contraction risk, whereas this structurally de-risked asset provides a vastly superior localized entry profile. Furthermore, the equity's exceptionally low beta of 0.855 firmly dictates its defensive posture, proving its mathematical superiority in absorbing macroeconomic shocks. Buying a generational compounder at a near 16% discount with a heavily insulated, low-beta profile represents a premier setup for patient capital, overcoming near-term
What this score has been worth
ClaritX scores COST 83 out of 100 (snapshot 2026-10-05).
Every ClaritX analysis is scored first and judged only on what the stock did afterwards. Across the 189 analyses that scored in the 80-84 band, the average forward return was -1.2% with a 41% win rate, -6.3pp against the S&P 500. That is a measured tendency across many names, not a forecast for COST — roughly 59% of stocks in this band still lost money.
The full band-by-band table, including the bands that lost, is on the AI Rank Report; the live strategy arms behind it are on the AI Track Record, losses published.