Costco Wholesale Corporation
COST Consumer Defensive Discount Stores
Costco Wholesale Corporation’s revenue for fiscal 2026 (year ended August 2026) was $303.2 billion, up 10.1% from fiscal 2025. Member of the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100; revenue growth for ten consecutive years, operating cash flow growth for three.
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Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST) Altman Z-score
Costco Wholesale Corporation's Altman Z-score for fiscal 2026 is 9.04, in the safe zone (above 2.99).
Altman Z-score, annual
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Annual newest first
| Period | Altman Z-score | Change (points) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2026 | 9.04 | (0.64) |
| FY2025 | 9.69 | 0.13 |
| FY2024 | 9.56 | 1.89 |
| FY2023 | 7.67 | 0.18 |
| FY2022 | 7.48 | 0.59 |
| FY2021 | 6.90 | 0.67 |
| FY2020 | 6.22 | (0.42) |
| FY2019 | 6.64 | 0.32 |
| FY2018 | 6.32 | 0.54 |
| FY2017 | 5.78 | (0.52) |
How fiscal 2026’s score is made up
| Component | This year | Year before | Result | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Working capital / total assets | 0.03 | — | 0.04 | |
| Retained earnings / total assets | 0.32 | — | 0.45 | |
| EBIT / total assets | 0.13 | — | 0.43 | |
| Market value of equity / total liabilities | 7.87 | — | 4.72 | |
| Sales / total assets | 3.40 | — | 3.40 | |
| Altman Z-score | Safe zone | 9.04 | ||
| Z″ Variant for non-manufacturing and asset-light companies (drops the sales/assets term, uses book equity) | Safe zone | 2.83 | ||
How the Altman Z-score works
Z = 1.2 × working capital ÷ total assets + 1.4 × retained earnings ÷ total assets + 3.3 × EBIT ÷ total assets + 0.6 × market value of equity ÷ total liabilities + 1.0 × revenue ÷ total assets (Altman, 1968). The market value of equity is the close on the last trading day of the fiscal year times weighted basic shares.
Z″ = 6.56 × working capital ÷ total assets + 3.26 × retained earnings ÷ total assets + 6.72 × EBIT ÷ total assets + 1.05 × book equity ÷ total liabilities (Altman, Hartzell and Peck, 1995), the variant for non-manufacturing and asset-light companies.
| Zone | Z | Z″ |
|---|---|---|
| Safe zone | above 2.99 | above 2.60 |
| Grey zone | 1.81–2.99 | 1.10–2.60 |
| Distress zone | below 1.81 | below 1.10 |
Not worked out for banks, insurers and REITs, whose balance sheets the model does not describe, nor when a figure is missing or there is no share price in the week to the fiscal year end.
Altman Z-score against peers
| Company | Altman Z-score |
|---|---|
| COST Costco Wholesale Corporation | 9.0× |
| WMT Walmart Inc. compare | 6.5× |
| OLLI Ollie's Bargain Outlet Holdings, Inc. compare | 6.0× |
| PSMT PriceSmart, Inc. compare | 5.3× |
| BJ BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc. compare | 4.7× |
| DLTR Dollar Tree, Inc. compare | 3.8× |
| TBBB BBB Foods Inc. compare | 3.5× |
| TGT Target Corporation compare | 2.9× |
| DG Dollar General Corporation compare | 2.7× |
What Altman Z-score is
The Altman Z-Score weighs working capital, retained earnings, operating profit, market value and sales against assets and debts to gauge the risk of distress.
1.2 × working capital ÷ total assets + 1.4 × retained earnings ÷ total assets + 3.3 × EBIT ÷ total assets + 0.6 × market value of equity ÷ total liabilities + 1.0 × revenue ÷ total assets
More on COST
- Revenue
- Net income
- EPS (diluted)
- EBITDA
- Free cash flow
- Operating cash flow
- Gross margin
- Operating margin
- Net margin
- Free cash flow margin
- P/E ratio
- P/S ratio
- P/B ratio
- Price to free cash flow
- EV/EBITDA
- EV/Sales
- EV/FCF
- Return on equity
- Return on assets
- Return on invested capital
- Debt to equity
- Current ratio
- Total debt
- Shares outstanding
- Book value per share
- Revenue growth
- Piotroski F-score
- Beneish M-score
- The full statement