Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ: COST) is one of 12 publicly-traded companies in the “Variety stores” industry, but how does it contrast to its competitors? We will compare Costco Wholesale to related companies based on the strength of its dividends, valuation, risk, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership and analyst recommendations.
Valuation & Earnings
This table compares Costco Wholesale and its competitors top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Net Income | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Costco Wholesale | $129.03 billion | $2.68 billion | 33.75 |
| Costco Wholesale Competitors | $65.63 billion | $1.74 billion | 22.31 |
Insider and Institutional Ownership
73.0% of Costco Wholesale shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 76.5% of shares of all “Variety stores” companies are held by institutional investors. 0.6% of Costco Wholesale shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 13.8% of shares of all “Variety stores” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Risk and Volatility
Costco Wholesale has a beta of 0.96, indicating that its stock price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Costco Wholesale’s competitors have a beta of 0.89, indicating that their average stock price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Profitability
This table compares Costco Wholesale and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Costco Wholesale | 2.18% | 24.74% | 7.37% |
| Costco Wholesale Competitors | 3.76% | 15.00% | 6.64% |
Analyst Ratings
This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Costco Wholesale and its competitors, as provided by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Costco Wholesale | 0 | 6 | 21 | 0 | 2.78 |
| Costco Wholesale Competitors | 164 | 1265 | 1701 | 90 | 2.53 |
Costco Wholesale currently has a consensus target price of $192.52, indicating a potential downside of 1.98%. As a group, “Variety stores” companies have a potential upside of 3.04%. Given Costco Wholesale’s competitors higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Costco Wholesale has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.
Dividends
Costco Wholesale pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Costco Wholesale pays out 34.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Variety stores” companies pay a dividend yield of 1.6% and pay out 36.6% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Costco Wholesale has increased its dividend for 14 consecutive years.
Summary
Costco Wholesale beats its competitors on 9 of the 15 factors compared.
Costco Wholesale Company Profile
Costco Wholesale Corporation is engaged in the operation of membership warehouses in the United States and Puerto Rico, Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Japan, Australia, Spain, and through its subsidiaries in Taiwan and Korea. As of August 28, 2016, the Company operated 715 warehouses across the world. The Company’s average warehouse space is approximately 144,000 square feet. The Company’s warehouses on average operate on a seven-day, 70-hour week. The Company offers merchandise in various categories, which include foods (including dry foods, packaged foods and groceries); sundries (including snack foods, candy, alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages, and cleaning supplies); hardlines (including appliances, electronics, health and beauty aids, hardware, and garden and patio); fresh foods (including meat, produce, deli and bakery); softlines (including apparel and small appliances), and other (including gas stations and pharmacy).
Receive News & Ratings for Costco Wholesale Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Costco Wholesale and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.
