Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST), headquartered in Issaquah, Washington, is a global membership-based warehouse retailer that sells quality brand-name merchandise, groceries, and everyday essentials at competitive prices. With a market capitalization of approximately $435.5 billion, the company operates warehouses and offers exclusive member services, leveraging bulk purchasing, a large membership base, and operational efficiency to deliver value to customers.
COST is set to report its Q1 2027 earnings soon. Ahead of the release, analysts expect diluted EPS of $4.87, up 12.2% from $4.34 in the year-ago quarter. Notably, the company has exceeded Wall Street’s EPS estimates in each of the past three quarters.
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For fiscal 2027, analysts project EPS of $22.70, up 11% from $20.45 in fiscal 2026. EPS is expected to increase another 9.8% year over year to $24.93 in fiscal 2028.
www.barchart.comCOST stock has risen 9.2% over the past 52 weeks, underperforming both the S&P 500 Index ($SPX), which gained 12%, and the State Street Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLP), which returned 15.2% over the same period.
www.barchart.comCOST stock has lagged the broader market over the past year, as concerns over its elevated valuation of roughly 47 times earnings and slowing revenue growth weighed on investor sentiment. Despite beating earnings and revenue expectations in fiscal Q4 2026, the stock continued to face analyst price-target cuts. On the positive side, Costco announced a quarterly cash dividend of $1.47 per share on October 14, payable on November 13 to shareholders of record as of October 30. The dividend reinforces the company’s commitment to returning capital to shareholders. COST shares also gained 2.9% on October 14, the day of the announcement.
Analysts are somewhat optimistic about COST, with the stock carrying a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating. Of the 37 analysts covering the stock, 20 recommend a “Strong Buy,” five recommend a “Moderate Buy,” 11 recommend a “Hold,” and one assigns a “Strong Sell.” Meanwhile, the average analyst price target of $1,085.36 implies potential upside of 8.9% from the current share price.
On the date of publication, Abhishek Bhuyan did not directly have a position in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.
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