General retail · 13/36 against 15/36 checks · to 2026-09-08
COST vs WMT.
CostcoSells bulk goods at thin margins to members who pay an annual fee.
WalmartAmerica's largest retailer by sales, from supercentres to a growing online and advertising business.→Costco (COST) and Walmart (WMT) are within reach of each other at $403.6B and $841.4B, and on the filings Walmart passes more, 15 checks of 36 against 13.
Which passes more checks?
widest gap first→No axis separates them by more than 2 of six checks, and the widest is Growth. They score identically on 5 of the six, so the difference between them is narrower than a headline suggests.
| COST | WMT | |
|---|---|---|
| Growth | 2/6 | 4/6 |
| Value | 0/6 | 0/6 |
| Quality | 4/6 | 4/6 |
| Health | 4/6 | 4/6 |
| Shareholder returns | 3/6 | 3/6 |
| Trend analysis | 0/6 | 0/6 |
| All checks | 13/36 | 15/36 |
→Walmart turns over $728.5B to Costco's $293.6B, 2.5 times as much. Costco keeps 3.0% of revenue as profit against 3.0% at Walmart.
Which is growing faster, COST or WMT?
| COST | WMT | |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue (TTM) | $293.6B | $728.5B |
| Revenue growth, 1 year | - | +6.1% |
| Revenue CAGR, 3 years | +6.6% | +5.3% |
| Net income (TTM) | $8.8B | $22.1B |
| Free cash flow (TTM) | $8.8B | $13.5B |
Which is cheaper?
→Walmart is the cheaper of the two on earnings, 38.5x against 45.8x. Against their own histories, Costco is above its 31.2x median and Walmart is above its 26.0x.
| COST | WMT | |
|---|---|---|
| Share price | $910.18 | $106.05 |
| Market cap | $403.6B | $841.4B |
| P/E | 45.8x | 38.5x |
| P/E, own median own 5-year median / own 11-year median | 31.2x | 26.0x |
| P/S | 1.4x | 1.2x |
| Free cash flow yield | 2.2% | 1.6% |
Which keeps more of each sale?
→Walmart keeps more of each sale: gross margin of 24.5% against 5.6%, a gap of 19 points that flows into everything below it.
| COST | WMT | |
|---|---|---|
| Gross margin | 5.6% | 24.5% |
| Operating margin | 3.8% | 4.4% |
| Return on equity | 26.4% | 22.5% |
Which balance sheet is stronger?
→Costco carries much the lighter balance sheet, 0.17x of debt to equity against 0.41x - which matters most in the year a downturn arrives, not this one.
| COST | WMT | |
|---|---|---|
| Debt / equity | 0.17x | 0.41x |
| Interest coverage | 76.9x | 17.4x |
| Cash and short-term investments | $20.0B | $11.5B |
Which hands more back to owners?
→Both pay: Walmart yields the more at 0.9% against 0.5%. A yield rises when a price falls, so read it beside the payout checks in each report.
| COST | WMT | |
|---|---|---|
| Dividend yield | 0.5% | 0.9% |
| Payout ratio | 24.7% | 34.0% |
| Years of unbroken dividend | - | - |
Where they differ most
the checks behind the gapGrowth: Walmart 2 ahead
- Profits grew last year 3.4% vs 0.0%
- Profit growth beats its peers 24.2% vs 13.0% (market 70th pct)
- Growth is speeding up, not slowing 1y 6.1% vs 3y 5.3%
- Sustained growth beats its sector (3 years) 6.6% vs 13.0% (market 70th pct)
- Profit growth beats its peers 11.5% vs 13.0% (market 70th pct)