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) Return on invested capital
Costco Wholesale Corporation's return on invested capital over the twelve months to 31 August 2026 was 35.3%. Over the past ten years it has ranged from 18.0% (fiscal 2016) to 35.3% (fiscal 2026) — the current reading is the highest in ten years. That is above the Discount Stores industry median of 13.2% and above the Consumer Defensive sector median of 0.22%.
Return on invested capital, annual
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Annual newest first
| Period | Return on invested capital | Change (points) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2026 | 35.3% | 2.35 |
| FY2025 | 33.0% | 1.41 |
| FY2024 | 31.6% | 0.43 |
| FY2023 | 31.2% | 1.00 |
| FY2022 | 30.2% | (1.15) |
| FY2021 | 31.3% | 5.19 |
| FY2020 | 26.1% | 3.27 |
| FY2019 | 22.8% | 0.30 |
| FY2018 | 22.5% | 1.07 |
| FY2017 | 21.5% | 3.49 |
Against its own ten years
Return on invested capital against peers
| Company | Return on invested capital |
|---|---|
| COST Costco Wholesale Corporation | 35.3% |
| DLTR Dollar Tree, Inc. compare | 26.0% |
| BJ BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc. compare | 19.2% |
| TGT Target Corporation compare | 13.6% |
| WMT Walmart Inc. compare | 13.5% |
| PSMT PriceSmart, Inc. compare | 12.9% |
| OLLI Ollie's Bargain Outlet Holdings, Inc. compare | 12.5% |
| DG Dollar General Corporation compare | 12.4% |
| TBBB BBB Foods Inc. compare | −3.83% |
| Discount Stores industry median | 13.2% |
| Consumer Defensive sector median | 0.22% |
| Market median | 0.00% |
What Return on invested capital is
Return on Invested Capital shows how much after-tax operating profit a company earns on the money its lenders and shareholders have put in.
TTM: (Operating Income × 0.625) ÷ (Shareholders Equity (Total) (latest quarter) + Long Term Debt (Total) (latest quarter) + Current Part of Debt (latest quarter) − Cash & Short Term Investments (latest quarter)); Annual: (Operating Income × 0.625) ÷ (Shareholders Equity (Total) + Long Term Debt (Total) + Current Part of Debt − Cash & Short Term Investments)
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
- 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