7 companies · median 23 of 36 checks · prices as of 2026-10-23
General retail stocks.
Sorted by how many checks each one passes. Sort by any column to see who is cheapest, who is growing, or who has the strongest balance sheet - and how that compares with what is normal for the industry.
Ranked by checks passed
7 companies in this sector→There is real spread here - Dollar Tree (DLTR) leads on 30 of 36 checks, Walmart (WMT) trails on 21, with a median of 23.
→WMT, COST, TGT are 96% of the $1.53T we cover here, so a sector average says more about them than about the rest.
| Save | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Dollar TreeDLTRRuns the Dollar Tree discount chain after selling Family Dollar.Report | -4.4% | +24.7% | 6 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 30/36 | |
 Dollar GeneralDGRuns thousands of small discount stores in rural and small-town America.Report | -4.6% | +30.6% | 5 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 27/36 | |
 Macy'sMRuns Macy's and Bloomingdale's department stores and the Bluemercury beauty chain.Report | -0.3% | +34.5% | 5 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 27/36 | |
 Kohl'sKSSRuns department stores in US suburbs selling clothing, home goods and beauty.Report | -0.8% | +51.9% | 5 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 23/36 | |
 CostcoCOSTSells bulk goods at thin margins to members who pay an annual fee.Report | -1.5% | +6.8% | 0 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 22/36 | |
 TargetTGTA general merchandise retailer with a large store network and own-brand goods.Report | -3.4% | +69.1% | 3 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 22/36 | |
 WalmartWMTAmerica's largest retailer by sales, from supercenters to a growing online and advertising business.Report | -1.0% | +12.8% | 0 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 21/36 |
The filings behind this table close between 2026-07-31 and 2026-08-30, because these companies do not share a fiscal calendar; prices are the close of 2026-10-23. Each name links to its full report; every score is a count of pass-or-fail checks read from that company's own filings.
Where the sector falls short
median score per axis→Growth is where the general retailers we cover come up short most often, at a median of 3 of 6, while Value runs at 5.
| Value | ●●●●●○ | 5 of 6 |
| Growth | ●●●○○○ | 3 of 6 |
| Quality | ●●●●○○ | 4 of 6 |
| Financial health | ●●●●○○ | 4 of 6 |
| Shareholder returns | ●●●●○○ | 4 of 6 |
| Trend | ●●●●●○ | 5 of 6 |
Who grows, and who keeps it
every company in the industry→DLTR does both: growing faster than this industry's middle and keeping more of each sale than it does. The industry's middle is 5% growth on a 5% margin. WMT, M, KSS do neither.
A year of price
not a fact about the business→Every one of them is up over twelve months, by a median of +30.6% - Target (TGT) at +69.1% against Costco (COST) at +6.8%. Price is not a fact about a business, and the Trend chapter of each report says what it is measured on.
Head to head
3 pairsThe table above gives the order. These put two of them in one column each, so you can see where the difference actually is.