COST vs WMT — Stock Comparison
Side-by-side performance, valuation and profitability for COST and WMT.
Costco Wholesale (COST) and Walmart (WMT) are both large discount retailers in the Consumer Defensive sector, but operate under fundamentally different business models. Costco runs membership-based warehouse clubs with a limited SKU assortment and generates significant revenue from membership fees, while Walmart operates traditional discount stores, supercenters, and Sam's Club across three divisions, relying primarily on merchandise sales. According to the tool data, Costco trades at a P/E of 48.06 with an EPS of $19.72, while Walmart's P/E is 38.41 with an EPS of $2.70; Costco's market cap is approximately $420.3 billion versus Walmart's $825.3 billion.
No overlapping price data for this period.
The weekly market recap
Top movers, earnings on deck, and one original insight. Free, weekly, unsubscribe any time.
Fundamentals
| Metric | COST | WMT |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $971.40 | $106.49 |
| Market Cap | $430.80B | $847.46B |
| P/E Ratio | — | — |
| EPS | — | — |
| Beta | 0.86 | 0.60 |
| 52-Week Range | $844.06 – $1096.50 | $95.42 – $135.16 |
| Dividend Yield | 0.01% | 0.01% |
| Metric | COST | WMT |
|---|---|---|
| P/E | — | — |
| PEG | — | — |
| P/B | 14.36 | 9.55 |
| P/S | 1.52 | 1.33 |
| P/FCF | — | — |
| EV/EBITDA | 30.97 | 21.68 |
| P/Fair Value | 14.36 | 9.55 |
| Metric | COST | WMT |
|---|---|---|
| Gross Margin | 12.84% | 24.93% |
| EBITDA Margin | 4.87% | 6.52% |
| Operating Margin | 3.77% | 4.18% |
| Net Margin | 2.94% | 3.07% |
| Metric | COST | WMT |
|---|---|---|
| Current Ratio | 1.03 | 0.79 |
| Quick Ratio | 0.55 | 0.24 |
| Cash Ratio | 0.38 | 0.10 |
| Debt / Equity | — | — |
| Debt Ratio | — | — |
| Interest Coverage | — | — |
| Metric | COST | WMT |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue / Share | $619.92 | $89.34 |
| Net Income / Share | $18.24 | $2.74 |
| Book Value / Share | $65.69 | $13.30 |
| Cash / Share | $34.42 | $1.34 |
| FCF / Share | $17.65 | $1.87 |
| Dividend / Share | $4.92 | $0.94 |
What these numbers do not show
The two companies differ materially in scale, leverage, and margin structure: Walmart operates with roughly 2.1 million employees compared to Costco's 341,000, and carries higher debt (debt-to-equity of 0.75 versus Costco's 0.25 according to the tool data). Costco's gross margin of 12.9% reflects its membership model and limited inventory, while Walmart's 25.2% gross margin reflects traditional retail operations; both report similar net margins near 3%. These structural differences mean valuation multiples and financial ratios are not directly comparable between the two.
Note
A comparison is a starting point, not a recommendation, and nothing here accounts for your circumstances. See our methodology for where this data comes from.