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. In the quarter to August 2026, revenue grew 11.1%, EPS grew 14.8%, free cash flow grew 30.7% and total debt rose 6.46%, each against the same quarter a year earlier. 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) Free cash flow margin
Costco Wholesale Corporation's free cash flow margin over the twelve months to 31 August 2026 was 3.10%. Over the past ten years it has ranged from 0.54% (fiscal 2016) to 3.63% (fiscal 2020); the current reading is higher than 83% of that period. That is below the Discount Stores industry median of 3.35% and above the Consumer Defensive sector median of 1.54%.
Free cash flow margin, annual
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Annual newest first
| Period | Free cash flow margin | Change (points) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2026 | 3.10% | 0.25 |
| FY2025 | 2.85% | 0.24 |
| FY2024 | 2.61% | (0.17) |
| FY2023 | 2.78% | 1.24 |
| FY2022 | 1.54% | (1.20) |
| FY2021 | 2.74% | (0.89) |
| FY2020 | 3.63% | 1.43 |
| FY2019 | 2.20% | 0.22 |
| FY2018 | 1.98% | (1.29) |
| FY2017 | 3.27% | 2.73 |
Against its own ten years
Free cash flow margin against peers
| Company | Free cash flow margin |
|---|---|
| DLTR Dollar Tree, Inc. compare | 9.85% |
| OLLI Ollie's Bargain Outlet Holdings, Inc. compare | 8.02% |
| DG Dollar General Corporation compare | 4.62% |
| TGT Target Corporation compare | 4.14% |
| TBBB BBB Foods Inc. compare | 3.59% |
| COST Costco Wholesale Corporation | 3.10% |
| WMT Walmart Inc. compare | 1.86% |
| BJ BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc. compare | 1.57% |
| PSMT PriceSmart, Inc. compare | 1.45% |
| Discount Stores industry median | 3.35% |
| Consumer Defensive sector median | 1.54% |
| Market median | 0.00% |
What Free cash flow margin is
Free Cash Flow Margin tells an investor how much of each sale turns into cash the company keeps after paying for investment in its assets.
(Operating Cash Flow + Property, Plant, Equipment Change (Net) + Intangible Assets Change (Net)) ÷ Revenue
More on COST
- Revenue
- Net income
- EPS (diluted)
- EBITDA
- Free cash flow
- Operating cash flow
- Gross margin
- Operating margin
- Net 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
- Altman Z-score
- Beneish M-score
- The full statement