Walmart (WMT) Competitors

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) and Walmart (NYSE:WMT) are both large-cap retail/wholesale companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, media sentiment, dividends, community ranking, risk, profitability, valuation and earnings.

Which has more volatility and risk, COST or WMT?

Costco Wholesale has a beta of 0.8, meaning that its stock price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Walmart has a beta of 0.51, meaning that its stock price is 49% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in COST or WMT?

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.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer COST or WMT?

Costco Wholesale received 293 more outperform votes than Walmart when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 72.04% of users gave Costco Wholesale an outperform vote while only 61.46% of users gave Walmart an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Costco Wholesale	Outperform Votes 1837 72.04%	Underperform Votes 713 27.96%
Walmart	Outperform Votes 1544 61.46%	Underperform Votes 968 38.54%

Which has stronger valuation and earnings, COST or WMT?

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.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Costco Wholesale	$254.45B	1.62	$7.37B	$16.57	56.01
Walmart	$648.13B	1.08	$15.51B	$2.44	35.78

Does the media favor COST or WMT?

In the previous week, Walmart had 72 more articles in the media than Costco Wholesale. MarketBeat recorded 166 mentions for Walmart and 94 mentions for Costco Wholesale. Costco Wholesale's average media sentiment score of 1.05 beat Walmart's score of 0.93 indicating that Costco Wholesale is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Costco Wholesale	62 Very Positive mention(s)	14 Positive mention(s)	12 Neutral mention(s)	5 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Walmart	97 Very Positive mention(s)	13 Positive mention(s)	25 Neutral mention(s)	8 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is COST or WMT a better dividend stock?

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 1.0%. Costco Wholesale pays out 28.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Walmart pays out 34.1% 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 52 consecutive years. Walmart is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do analysts recommend COST or WMT?

Costco Wholesale currently has a consensus price target of $908.81, suggesting a potential downside of 2.08%. Walmart has a consensus price target of $91.51, suggesting a potential upside of 4.97%. Given Walmart's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Walmart is more favorable than Costco Wholesale.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Costco Wholesale	0 Sell rating(s)	9 Hold rating(s)	18 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67
Walmart	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	28 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Is COST or WMT more profitable?

Walmart has a net margin of 2.92% compared to Costco Wholesale's net margin of 2.90%. Costco Wholesale's return on equity of 31.05% beat Walmart's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Costco Wholesale	2.90%	31.05%	10.32%
Walmart	2.92%	21.78%	7.73%

Summary

Costco Wholesale and Walmart tied by winning 11 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.