COST vs. WMT, PSMT, TGT, DLTR, DG, BJ, MNSO, OLLI, FIVE, and EXTO
Should you be buying Costco Wholesale stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Costco Wholesale include Walmart (WMT), PriceSmart (PSMT), Target (TGT), Dollar Tree (DLTR), Dollar General (DG), BJ's Wholesale Club (BJ), MINISO Group (MNSO), Ollie's Bargain Outlet (OLLI), Five Below (FIVE), and Almacenes Éxito (EXTO). These companies are all part of the "variety stores" industry.
Costco Wholesale vs.
Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) and Walmart (NYSE:WMT) are both large-cap retail/wholesale companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, media sentiment, valuation, community ranking and profitability.
In the previous week, Costco Wholesale had 4 more articles in the media than Walmart. MarketBeat recorded 118 mentions for Costco Wholesale and 114 mentions for Walmart. Costco Wholesale's average media sentiment score of 1.16 beat Walmart's score of 1.09 indicating that Costco Wholesale is being referred to more favorably in the media.
68.5% of Costco Wholesale shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 26.8% of Walmart shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of Costco Wholesale shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 45.6% of Walmart shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Walmart has higher revenue and earnings than Costco Wholesale. Walmart is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Costco Wholesale, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Costco Wholesale has a net margin of 2.93% compared to Walmart's net margin of 2.92%. Costco Wholesale's return on equity of 32.31% beat Walmart's return on equity.
Costco Wholesale has a beta of 0.84, indicating that its stock price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Walmart has a beta of 0.55, indicating that its stock price is 45% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Costco Wholesale presently has a consensus price target of $1,013.59, suggesting a potential upside of 7.29%. Walmart has a consensus price target of $94.69, suggesting a potential upside of 1.53%. Given Costco Wholesale's higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Costco Wholesale is more favorable than Walmart.
Costco Wholesale received 300 more outperform votes than Walmart when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 72.02% of users gave Costco Wholesale an outperform vote while only 61.55% of users gave Walmart an outperform vote.
Costco Wholesale pays an annual dividend of $4.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. Walmart pays an annual dividend of $0.83 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. Costco Wholesale pays out 27.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Walmart pays out 34.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Costco Wholesale has increased its dividend for 21 consecutive years and Walmart has increased its dividend for 35 consecutive years. Walmart is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
Summary
Costco Wholesale beats Walmart on 14 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.
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New MarketBeat Followers Over Time
This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding {thisCompany.Symbol} and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Media Sentiment Over Time
This chart shows the average media sentiment of NASDAQ and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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This page (NASDAQ:COST) was last updated on 1/22/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
