COMPANY RESEARCH · NASDAQ: COST
Costco Wholesale
You may know the store. Before you buy the stock, check how the business earns money, whether customers come back, and what you would pay for its profit.
BEFORE YOU BUY THE STOCK
Check the business. Then check the price.
Five questions, answered from the company's own filings and dated sources. Research checked Sep 28, 2026.
Saved research, checked Sep 28, 2026. Every figure shows its own date, and prices are not live quotes.
1 THE BUSINESS
NEWEST RESULTS
Unaudited · annual filing pendingFY2026 (52 weeks), ended Aug 30, 2026
From the company's earnings release, published Sep 24, 2026. Kept apart from the filed annual figures below until the annual report confirms them.
- Net sales
- $297.2B
- Membership fees
- $5.9B
- Operating profit
- $11.7B
- Diluted EPS
- $20.76
- Free cash flow (our calculation)
- $9.4B
- Cost of merchandise
- $88.91
- Selling, general and administrative
- $9.15
- Remainder before membership fees; not operating profit
- $1.94
Why this differs from the $100 in question 1 below: that one comes from the last filed annual report and divides total revenue, which includes membership fees, down to operating profit. This one uses the newer release and stops before membership fees are added, so its $1.94 is not profit.
Membership fees of $5.9B were equal to 51% of operating profit ($11.7B).
How does it actually make money?
Of every $100 of total revenue in the year ended Aug 31, 2025, $87.16 went to the cost of what it sold, $9.07 to other operating costs, and $3.77 was left as operating profit.
- Cost of revenue
- $87.16
- Other operating expenses
- $9.07
- Operating profit
- $3.77
Show the numbers
| Year ended | Revenue | Gross margin | Operating margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 29, 2021 | $195.9B | Not reported | 3.4% |
| Aug 28, 2022 | $227.0B | Not reported | 3.4% |
| Sep 3, 2023 | $242.3B | Not reported | 3.3% |
| Sep 1, 2024 | $254.5B | Not reported | 3.6% |
| Aug 31, 2025 | $275.2B | Not reported | 3.8% |
Do customers come back?
The numbers the company itself reports about the people who pay it.
- 92.3%Membership renewal rate, U.S. and CanadaQ4 FY2026 · as of Aug 30, 2026
- 89.8%Membership renewal rate, worldwideQ4 FY2026 · as of Aug 30, 2026
- 939Warehouses worldwideFY2026 end · as of Aug 30, 2026
- 115Warehouses in CanadaFY2026 end · as of Aug 30, 2026
- 967Estimated warehouses at FY2027 endFY2027 plan announced Q4 FY2026 · as of Aug 30, 2026Company estimateManagement estimate, not an observed count. 28 more than FY2026 end.
Is it still growing?
Revenue went from $72.5B in the year ended Aug 31, 2008 to $275.2B in the year ended Aug 31, 2025. It fell in 1 of 17 year-to-year comparisons.
- 2008 $72.5B, year ended Aug 31, 2008
- 2009 $71.4B, year ended Aug 30, 2009 · decline
- 2010 $77.9B, year ended Aug 29, 2010
- 2011 $88.9B, year ended Aug 28, 2011
- 2012 $99.1B, year ended Sep 2, 2012
- 2013 $105.2B, year ended Sep 1, 2013
- 2014 $112.6B, year ended Aug 31, 2014
- 2015 $116.2B, year ended Aug 30, 2015
- 2016 $118.7B, year ended Aug 28, 2016
- 2017 $129.0B, year ended Sep 3, 2017
- 2018 $141.6B, year ended Sep 2, 2018
- 2019 $152.7B, year ended Sep 1, 2019
- 2020 $166.8B, year ended Aug 30, 2020
- 2021 $195.9B, year ended Aug 29, 2021
- 2022 $227.0B, year ended Aug 28, 2022
- 2023 $242.3B, year ended Sep 3, 2023
- 2024 $254.5B, year ended Sep 1, 2024
- 2025 $275.2B, year ended Aug 31, 2025
Columns are labelled by the calendar year each fiscal year ended. ▼ marks a decline.
Sources (16)
- 10-K filed Oct 18, 2010 (opens new tab)
- 10-K filed Oct 14, 2011 (opens new tab)
- 10-K filed Oct 19, 2012 (opens new tab)
- 10-K filed Oct 16, 2013 (opens new tab)
- 10-K filed Oct 15, 2014 (opens new tab)
- 10-K filed Oct 14, 2015 (opens new tab)
- 10-K filed Oct 12, 2016 (opens new tab)
- 10-K filed Oct 18, 2017 (opens new tab)
- 10-K filed Oct 26, 2018 (opens new tab)
- 10-K filed Oct 11, 2019 (opens new tab)
- 10-K filed Oct 7, 2020 (opens new tab)
- 10-K filed Oct 6, 2021 (opens new tab)
- 10-K filed Oct 5, 2022 (opens new tab)
- 10-K filed Oct 11, 2023 (opens new tab)
- 10-K filed Oct 9, 2024 (opens new tab)
- 10-K filed Oct 8, 2025 (opens new tab)
Does the cash show up?
In the year ended Aug 31, 2025, operations brought in $13.3B and $5.5B went to capital spending, leaving $7.8B of free cash flow (2.8% of revenue).
- 2021 $5.4B free cash flow, year ended Aug 29, 2021
- 2022 $3.5B free cash flow, year ended Aug 28, 2022
- 2023 $6.7B free cash flow, year ended Sep 3, 2023
- 2024 $6.6B free cash flow, year ended Sep 1, 2024
- 2025 $7.8B free cash flow, year ended Aug 31, 2025
Show the numbers
| Year ended | Operating cash | Capital spending | Free cash flow | % of revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 29, 2021 | $9.0B | $3.6B | $5.4B | 2.7% |
| Aug 28, 2022 | $7.4B | $3.9B | $3.5B | 1.5% |
| Sep 3, 2023 | $11.1B | $4.3B | $6.7B | 2.8% |
| Sep 1, 2024 | $11.3B | $4.7B | $6.6B | 2.6% |
| Aug 31, 2025 | $13.3B | $5.5B | $7.8B | 2.8% |
Free cash flow is our calculation: operating cash flow minus reported capital spending.
2 THE PRICE
A strong business and a good price are separate questions.
What am I paying for each dollar of profit, compared with its own history?
At that price you pay about $44 for every $1 of a year's profit per share, a P/E of 44.4×. That is higher than 15 of the 18 fiscal-year-end readings since 2009. The middle 80% of those readings ran from 22.7× to 47.4×.
- FY ended Aug 30, 2009 $51.77 ÷ $2.47 = 21.0×
- FY ended Aug 29, 2010 $56.19 ÷ $2.92 = 19.2×
- FY ended Aug 28, 2011 $77.21 ÷ $3.30 = 23.4×
- FY ended Sep 2, 2012 $97.87 ÷ $3.89 = 25.2×
- FY ended Sep 1, 2013 $111.87 ÷ $4.63 = 24.2×
- FY ended Aug 31, 2014 $121.08 ÷ $4.65 = 26.0×
- FY ended Aug 30, 2015 $139.95 ÷ $5.37 = 26.1×
- FY ended Aug 28, 2016 $163.93 ÷ $5.33 = 30.8×
- FY ended Sep 3, 2017 $158.24 ÷ $6.08 = 26.0×
- FY ended Sep 2, 2018 $233.13 ÷ $7.09 = 32.9×
- FY ended Sep 1, 2019 $294.76 ÷ $8.26 = 35.7×
- FY ended Aug 30, 2020 $348.37 ÷ $9.02 = 38.6×
- FY ended Aug 29, 2021 $450.34 ÷ $11.27 = 40.0×
- FY ended Aug 28, 2022 $531.82 ÷ $13.14 = 40.5×
- FY ended Sep 3, 2023 $544.25 ÷ $14.16 = 38.4×
- FY ended Sep 1, 2024 $892.38 ÷ $16.56 = 53.9×
- FY ended Aug 31, 2025 $943.32 ÷ $18.21 = 51.8×
- FY ended Aug 30, 2026 $945.47 ÷ $20.76 = 45.5×
Historical P/E uses the last close on or before fiscal year end divided by that full year EPS. It is retrospective, may include later restatements, and is not a point-in-time backtest. Prices must exclude dividend adjustments and match the EPS split basis.
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