Advertisement
COST vs WMT
Costco (COST) vs Walmart (WMT) Earnings Recap: Strong Holiday Results Face Growth Challenges
Key Takeaways
- Costco reported Q2 FY2026 net sales of $68.24 billion, up 9.1% year-over-year, with diluted EPS of $4.58, surpassing expectations.
- Walmart's Q4 FY2026 revenue reached $190.7 billion, a 5.6% increase, with adjusted EPS of $0.74, beating consensus estimates.
- Both companies showed robust comparable sales growth: Costco at 7.4% total company, Walmart U.S. at 4.6% excluding fuel.
- eCommerce momentum strong—Costco digitally-enabled sales up 22.6%, Walmart global eCommerce up 24%.
- Membership models drive recurring revenue: Walmart membership fees up 15.1%, Costco maintains high renewal rates worldwide.
- Costco edges in sales growth rate, while Walmart's scale and diversified revenue streams provide stability.
Earnings Context and Why This Comparison Matters
Costco Wholesale (COST) and Walmart (WMT) dominate the discount retail landscape, with Costco focusing on membership-driven warehouse clubs and Walmart leveraging hypermarkets, eCommerce, and advertising. Recent earnings highlight resilience amid consumer shifts toward value shopping, but differing business models expose unique growth drivers and risks. Comparing their results reveals insights into membership loyalty, digital acceleration, and operational efficiency in a competitive environment.
Costco Focus
Costco released its fiscal second quarter 2026 results (ended February 15, 2026) on March 5, 2026. Net sales rose 9.1% to $68.24 billion from $62.53 billion year-over-year. Net income climbed nearly 14% to $2.035 billion, translating to diluted EPS of $4.58, up from $4.02. Comparable sales increased 7.4% company-wide (6.7% ex-gas and FX), with U.S. at 5.9%, Canada 10.1%, and Other International 13.0%. Digitally-enabled sales surged 22.6%, underscoring eCommerce strength. For the first 24 weeks, net sales grew 8.7% to $134.22 billion. February sales (four weeks ended March 1, 2026) hit $21.69 billion, up 9.5%. These figures reflect sustained traffic and basket growth, bolstered by membership fees.
Walmart Context
Walmart reported fiscal fourth quarter 2026 results (ended January 30, 2026) on February 19, 2026. Revenue increased 5.6% to $190.7 billion (4.9% constant currency), beating expectations. Adjusted operating income rose 10.5% in constant currency, while GAAP EPS was $0.53 and adjusted EPS $0.74, up from $0.66. Walmart U.S. comparable sales grew 4.6% excluding fuel, driven by 2.6% transaction growth and 2% higher average ticket. Global eCommerce sales jumped 24%, comprising 23% of sales, with advertising up 37%. Membership fee revenue grew 15.1% globally. Full-year FY2026 revenue reached $713.2 billion, up 4.7%. Walmart issued FY2027 guidance for net sales growth of 3.5%-4.5% and adjusted EPS of $2.75-$2.85.
Head-to-Head Earnings and Market Comparison
Costco demonstrates superior sales growth (9.1% vs. Walmart's 5.6%) and EPS expansion (14% net income growth), fueled by high-margin membership fees and international expansion across 924 warehouses. Walmart's massive scale ($190.7B quarterly revenue) and diversified streams—eCommerce (24% growth), advertising (37%), and membership (15.1%)—outpace Costco in absolute terms, with operating income growth exceeding sales. Both face tariff risks and cost pressures, but Costco's renewal rates (worldwide ~89.7%) signal stronger customer loyalty versus Walmart's broader value proposition. Risk exposure favors Walmart's omnichannel diversification, while Costco's trend strength lies in consistent comps. Market sentiment remains positive for both, with Costco commanding premium multiples on growth.
Trending AI Robots
Tickeron’s Trending AI Robots page showcases the platform's top-performing AI trading bots, curated from hundreds covering thousands of tickers like COST and WMT. These bots employ diverse strategies—momentum, mean reversion, scalping—across timeframes from intraday to swing trades, with performance metrics highlighting win rates, profit factors, and drawdowns under live market conditions. Only the strongest, adapting dynamically to volatility, appear here, often delivering annualized returns exceeding benchmarks. Retail traders gain access to institutional-grade tools without coding. Explore the page to deploy bots tailored to retail giants and beyond.
Tickeron AI Verdict
Tickeron AI favors COST with 65% probability over the next quarter, citing superior earnings quality, membership stability, and comp sales trend strength despite Walmart's scale advantage.
Disclaimer
The information on this webpage is provided for general informational and educational purposes only and is not intended as investment advice, a recommendation to purchase or sell any security, or an offer or solicitation related to investments. It does not consider your personal financial situation, goals, or risk profile, and all investing carries inherent risks, including the possibility of losing your entire investment. For more details, please review our full disclaimer. Disclaimers and Limitations
To compare these two companies we present long-term analysis, their fundamental ratings and make comparative short-term technical analysis which are presented below. The conclusion is COST is a Hold and WMT is a Hold.
Long-Term Analysis
It is best to consider a long-term outlook for a ticker by using Fundamental Analysis (FA) ratings. The rating of 1 to 100, where 1 is best and 100 is worst, is divided into thirds. The first third (a green rating of 1-33) indicates that the ticker is undervalued; the second third (a grey number between 34 and 66) means that the ticker is valued fairly; and the last third (red number of 67 to 100) reflects that the ticker is undervalued. We use an FA Score to show how many ratings show the ticker to be undervalued (green) or overvalued (red).
COST’s FA Score shows that 3 FA rating(s) are green whileWMT’s FA Score has 2 green FA rating(s).
- COST’s FA Score: 3 green, 2 red.
- WMT’s FA Score: 2 green, 3 red.
Short-Term Analysis
It is best to consider a short-term outlook for a ticker by using Technical Analysis (TA) indicators. We use Odds of Success as the percentage of outcomes which confirm successful trade signals in the past.
If the Odds of Success (the likelihood of the continuation of a trend) for each indicator are greater than 50%, then the generated signal is confirmed. A green percentage from 90% to 51% indicates that the ticker is in a bullish trend. A red percentage from 90% - 51% indicates that the ticker is in a bearish trend. All grey percentages are below 50% and are considered not to confirm the trend signal.
COST’s TA Score shows that 6 TA indicator(s) are bullish while WMT’s TA Score has 6 bullish TA indicator(s).
- COST’s TA Score: 6 bullish, 4 bearish.
- WMT’s TA Score: 6 bullish, 4 bearish.
Price Growth
COST (@Discount Stores) experienced а +2.88% price change this week, while WMT (@Discount Stores) price change was +1.93% for the same time period.
The average weekly price growth across all stocks in the @Discount Stores industry was -2.23%. For the same industry, the average monthly price growth was -3.18%, and the average quarterly price growth was +5.41%.
Reported Earning Dates
COST is expected to report earnings on Jul 29, 2026.
WMT is expected to report earnings on May 21, 2026.
Industries' Descriptions
@Discount Stores (-2.23% weekly)Companies in the discount stores industry specialize in offering substantial discounts on a vast array of retail products. Some companies in this industry also operate general merchandise warehouse clubs. Products sold at discount stores are typically similar to those of any department store, but the pricing of the goods is generally much lower (and hence the name “discount”). Think Dollar General Corporation, Dollar Tree, Inc. and Five Below, Inc. Many discount stores target low-income households and/or price-sensitive consumers as their potential market. Discount stores’ profitability could hinge on factors like competitive pricing, sufficient locations, healthy revenue per square foot, and effective advertisement. These store operators could have an edge over other retailers during financial crises or recessions, when many consumers could be looking for less expensive alternatives.
| COST | WMT | COST / WMT | |
| Capitalization | 462B | 1.06T | 44% |
| EBITDA | 14.1B | 46.5B | 30% |
| Gain YTD | 21.087 | 19.365 | 109% |
| P/E Ratio | 54.15 | 48.52 | 112% |
| Revenue | 286B | 713B | 40% |
| Total Cash | 18.2B | N/A | - |
| Total Debt | 8.17B | 67.1B | 12% |
COST | WMT | ||
|---|---|---|---|
OUTLOOK RATING 1..100 | 17 | 25 | |
VALUATION overvalued / fair valued / undervalued 1..100 | 94 Overvalued | 93 Overvalued | |
PROFIT vs RISK RATING 1..100 | 11 | 7 | |
SMR RATING 1..100 | 33 | 42 | |
PRICE GROWTH RATING 1..100 | 32 | 45 | |
P/E GROWTH RATING 1..100 | 58 | 30 | |
SEASONALITY SCORE 1..100 | 50 | 55 |
Tickeron ratings are formulated such that a rating of 1 designates the most successful stocks in a given industry, while a rating of 100 points to the least successful stocks for that industry.
WMT's Valuation (93) in the Specialty Stores industry is in the same range as COST (94). This means that WMT’s stock grew similarly to COST’s over the last 12 months.
WMT's Profit vs Risk Rating (7) in the Specialty Stores industry is in the same range as COST (11). This means that WMT’s stock grew similarly to COST’s over the last 12 months.
COST's SMR Rating (33) in the Specialty Stores industry is in the same range as WMT (42). This means that COST’s stock grew similarly to WMT’s over the last 12 months.
COST's Price Growth Rating (32) in the Specialty Stores industry is in the same range as WMT (45). This means that COST’s stock grew similarly to WMT’s over the last 12 months.
WMT's P/E Growth Rating (30) in the Specialty Stores industry is in the same range as COST (58). This means that WMT’s stock grew similarly to COST’s over the last 12 months.
| COST | WMT | |
|---|---|---|
| RSI ODDS (%) | 4 days ago 44% | 2 days ago 42% |
| Stochastic ODDS (%) | 2 days ago 37% | 2 days ago 29% |
| Momentum ODDS (%) | 2 days ago 61% | 2 days ago 64% |
| MACD ODDS (%) | 2 days ago 65% | 2 days ago 61% |
| TrendWeek ODDS (%) | 2 days ago 66% | 2 days ago 56% |
| TrendMonth ODDS (%) | 2 days ago 61% | 2 days ago 55% |
| Advances ODDS (%) | 2 days ago 63% | 2 days ago 57% |
| Declines ODDS (%) | 5 days ago 37% | 12 days ago 34% |
| BollingerBands ODDS (%) | 2 days ago 40% | 2 days ago 41% |
| Aroon ODDS (%) | 3 days ago 59% | 2 days ago 53% |
Advertisement
WMT and
Correlation & Price change
A.I.dvisor indicates that over the last year, WMT has been loosely correlated with COST. These tickers have moved in lockstep 66% of the time. This A.I.-generated data suggests there is some statistical probability that if WMT jumps, then COST could also see price increases.
| Ticker / NAME | Correlation To WMT | 1D Price Change % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WMT | 100% | +0.75% | ||
| COST - WMT | 66% Loosely correlated | +0.79% | ||
| BJ - WMT | 38% Loosely correlated | +1.01% | ||
| PSMT - WMT | 37% Loosely correlated | +1.03% | ||
| TGT - WMT | 30% Poorly correlated | +1.32% | ||
| DLTR - WMT | 21% Poorly correlated | +3.65% | ||
More | ||||