Costco Wholesale Corp (COST) operating KPIs

COSTNasdaqRetail-Variety StoresFiscal year ends August 30

Financials through Q4 FY2026, quarter ended Aug 30, 2026Last filing: 10-K on Oct 7, 2026Score 17/3057% above fair value

$1012.28+16.20 (+1.63%)

Close on Oct 30, 2026Market cap $448.93BP/E 48.8Yield 0.55%

KPIs

Operating metrics that drive Costco Wholesale's business · fiscal year ends Sunday nearest August 31 (52/53-week fiscal year: 12w Q1, 12w Q2, 12w Q3, 16/17w Q4)

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Costco Wholesale's fiscal year ends Sunday nearest August 31 (52/53-week fiscal year: 12w Q1, 12w Q2, 12w Q3, 16/17w Q4) — Q4 FY26 = Jun–Aug 2026.

Column labels

Metric	Q4 FY26 2026-08-30	Q3 FY26 2026-05-10	Q2 FY26 2026-02-15	Q1 FY26 2025-11-23	Q4 FY25 2025-08-31	Q3 FY25 2025-05-11	Q2 FY25 2025-02-16	Q1 FY25 2024-11-24	Q4 FY24 2024-09-01	Q3 FY24 2024-05-12	Q2 FY24 2024-02-18	Q1 FY24 2023-11-26

Total warehouses in operation (period end)3	939	928	924	921	914	905	897	896	890	876	874	870
United States and Puerto Rico1	647	637	634	633	629	624	617	616	614	604	602	599
U.S. states operated in	47	47	47	47	47	47	47	47	47	47	47	47
Canada	115	115	114	112	110	109	109	109	108	108	108	108
Other International (total)12
Mexico	43	42	42	42	42	41	41	41	40	40	40	40
Japan	37	37	37	37	37	37	36	36	35	33	33	33
United Kingdom	29	29	29	29	29	29	29	29	29	29	29	29
South Korea	20	20	20	20	20	19	19	19	19	18	18	18
Australia	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15
Taiwan	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14
China	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	6	6	5
Spain	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	4	4	4	4
France	3	3	3	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Sweden	2	2	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Iceland	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
New Zealand	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1

Comparable sales growth y/y — Total Company (Reported)(%)4	9.4%	9.8%	7.4%	6.4%	5.7%	5.7%	6.8%	5.2%	5.4%	6.6%	5.6%	3.8%
United States comparable sales (Reported)(%)	10.7%	9.4%	5.9%	5.9%	5.1%	6.6%	8.3%	5.2%	5.3%	6.2%	4.3%	2.0%
Canada comparable sales (Reported)(%)	5.0%	10.7%	10.1%	6.5%	6.3%	2.9%	4.6%	5.8%	5.5%	7.7%	9.2%	6.4%
Other International comparable sales (Reported)(%)	7.0%	11.2%	13.0%	8.8%	8.6%	3.2%	1.7%	4.7%	5.7%	7.7%	8.6%	11.2%
E-Commerce / Digitally-Enabled comparable sales (Reported)(%)	19.5%	21.5%	22.6%	20.5%	13.6%	14.8%	20.9%	13.0%	18.9%	20.7%	18.4%	6.3%
Comparable sales growth y/y — Total Company (Adjusted ex. gas & FX)(%)4	6.7%	6.6%	6.7%	6.4%	6.4%	8.0%	9.1%	7.1%	6.9%	6.5%	5.8%	3.9%
United States comparable sales (Adjusted ex. gas & FX)(%)	7.2%	6.8%	6.4%	5.9%	6.0%	7.9%	8.6%	7.2%	6.3%	6.0%	4.8%	2.6%
Canada comparable sales (Adjusted ex. gas & FX)(%)	4.6%	6.2%	7.6%	9.0%	8.3%	7.8%	10.5%	6.7%	7.9%	7.4%	9.0%	8.2%
Other International comparable sales (Adjusted ex. gas & FX)(%)	6.2%	5.9%	7.1%	6.8%	7.2%	8.5%	10.3%	7.1%	9.3%	8.5%	8.2%	7.1%
E-Commerce / Digitally-Enabled comparable sales (Adjusted ex. FX)(%)	19.8%	20.8%	21.7%	20.5%	13.5%	15.7%	22.2%	13.2%	19.5%	20.7%	18.2%	6.1%
Comparable shopping frequency (traffic) growth y/y — Total Company(%)3	3.3%	2.4%	3.1%	3.1%	3.7%	5.2%	5.7%	5.1%	6.4%	6.1%	5.3%	4.7%
United States comparable traffic growth y/y(%)	3.2%	1.8%	2.4%	2.6%	3.5%	5.5%	5.6%	4.9%	5.6%	5.5%	4.3%
Canada comparable traffic growth y/y(%)	2.5%	4.4%	4.3%	5.0%	5.3%	4.3%	5.8%	5.9%	7.7%	7.1%
Other International comparable traffic growth y/y(%)	4.5%	2.9%	4.6%	3.1%	3.2%	4.8%	6.3%	5.3%	8.1%	7.4%
Comparable average transaction (ticket) growth y/y — Total Company (Reported)(%)4	5.9%	7.3%	4.2%	3.2%	1.9%	0.4%	1.0%	0.1%	-0.9%	0.5%	0.3%
United States comparable ticket growth y/y (Reported)(%)	7.3%	7.5%	3.4%	3.2%	1.5%	1.1%	2.6%	0.3%	-0.3%	0.7%
Canada comparable ticket growth y/y (Reported)(%)	2.5%	6.0%	5.5%	1.4%	1.0%	-1.3%	-1.1%	-0.1%	-2.1%	0.6%
Other International comparable ticket growth y/y (Reported)(%)	2.4%	8.1%	8.0%	5.5%	5.2%	-1.5%	-4.3%	-0.6%	-2.2%	0.3%
Comparable average ticket growth y/y — Total Company (Adjusted ex. gas & FX)(%)3	3.3%	4.2%	3.5%	3.2%	2.6%	2.7%	3.2%
United States comparable ticket (Adjusted ex. gas & FX)(%)	3.9%	5.0%	3.9%	3.2%	2.4%	2.3%	2.8%
Canada comparable ticket (Adjusted ex. gas & FX)(%)	2.1%	1.7%	3.1%	3.8%	2.8%	3.4%	4.4%
Other International comparable ticket (Adjusted ex. gas & FX)(%)	1.7%	3.0%	2.4%	3.6%	3.9%	3.6%	3.8%

Total paid members (in thousands, period end)2	84,100	82,900	82,100	81,400	81,000	79,600	78,400	77,400	76,200	74,500	73,400	72,000
Paid memberships growth y/y (stated)(%)	3.8%	4.1%	4.8%	5.2%	6.3%	6.8%	6.8%	7.6%	7.3%	7.8%
Paid Executive memberships (in thousands, period end)2	42,300	41,200	40,400	39,700	38,700	37,600	36,900	36,400	35,400	34,500	33,900	33,200
Penetration of worldwide net sales to Executive members(%)	75.6%	75.0%	75.8%	74.3%	74.2%	73.1%	73.8%	73.1%	73.5%	73.1%
Executive members share of total paid members (stated)(%)							47.1%	46.8%	46.5%
Total cardholders (paid members + household cards, in thousands)1	150,400	148,500	147,200	145,900	145,200	142,800	140,600	138,800	136,800	133,900	132,000	129,500
Total cardholders growth y/y (stated)(%)	3.6%	4.0%	4.7%	5.1%	6.1%	6.6%	6.6%	7.2%	7.0%	7.4%
Member renewal rate — U.S. and Canada(%)1	92.3%	92.2%	92.1%	92.2%	92.3%	92.7%	93.0%	92.8%	92.9%	93.0%	92.9%	92.8%
Member renewal rate — Worldwide(%)	89.8%	89.7%	89.7%	89.7%	89.8%	90.2%	90.5%	90.4%	90.5%	90.5%	90.5%	90.5%
Membership fee revenue($M)4	1,850	1,373	1,355	1,329	1,724	1,240	1,193	1,166	1,512	1,123	1,111	1,082
Membership fee income growth y/y (Reported)(%)	7.3%	10.7%	13.6%	14.0%	14.0%	10.4%	7.4%	7.8%	6.5%	7.6%
Membership fee income growth y/y (Adjusted ex. FX)(%)	7.7%	9.9%	12.2%	14.0%	13.6%	11.4%	9.4%	7.8%	7.4%	8.0%
Deferred membership fees — current liability (period end)($M)	3,006	3,157	3,126	2,990	2,854	2,931	2,824	2,683	2,501	2,553	2,541	2,462
Executive 2% reward reduction in net sales1
Accrued member rewards liability (period end)($M)	3,037	2,948	2,833	2,712	2,677	2,583	2,491	2,444	2,435	2,339	2,268	2,207

Total net sales (merchandise & ancillary)($M)4	93,873	69,154	68,242	65,978	84,432	61,965	62,530	60,985	78,185	57,392	57,331	56,717
Foods and Sundries net sales($M)	36,163	26,533	27,149	26,943	34,241	25,149	25,112	25,062	31,699	23,065	23,675	23,024
Non-Foods net sales($M)	23,253	17,529	19,153	17,440	21,413	16,080	17,526	16,171	19,672	14,518	15,017	14,766
Fresh Foods net sales (meat, produce, deli, bakery)($M)	13,139	9,673	9,887	9,016	12,149	8,785	8,836	8,218	11,008	7,888	7,996	7,328
Warehouse Ancillary and Other Businesses net sales (gasoline, pharmacy, optical, e-comm, travel)($M)	21,318	15,419	12,053	12,579	16,629	11,951	11,056	11,534	15,806	11,921	10,643	11,599
Gasoline price inflation / (deflation) impact on net sales ($M)1
Gasoline volume (gallons sold) growth y/y(%)		10.0%	4.0%	4.0%		1.0%	1.0%	1.0%
Gross margin as a percentage of net sales (Reported)(%)9	11.0%	11.0%	11.0%	11.3%	11.1%	11.3%	10.9%	11.3%	11.0%	10.8%
Gross margin rate change y/y — Total (Reported, bps)(bps)	-11	-21	17	4	13	41	5	24	40	52
Gross margin rate change y/y — Total (Ex-Gas, bps)(bps)	20	1	11	4	3	29	4	7	33	54
Core merchandise margin on core sales change y/y (Core-on-Core, bps)(bps)	18	-9	22	30	29	36	-8	3	9	10
Gross margin bridge: Core merchandise (Reported, bps)(bps)	-32	-46	-3	0	30	36	5	31	-5	0
Gross margin bridge: Core merchandise (Ex-Gas, bps)(bps)	-9	-29	-7	0	22	27	4	17	-11	2
Gross margin bridge: Ancillary & Other Businesses (Reported, bps)(bps)	23	9	19	7	-11	30	1	-12	44	-6
Gross margin bridge: Ancillary & Other Businesses (Ex-Gas, bps)(bps)	32	14	17	7	-13	27	0	-16	42	-5
Gross margin bridge: LIFO impact (Reported, bps)(bps)	-11	14	-4	-3	-6	-23	-1	0	5	2
Gross margin bridge: LIFO impact (Ex-Gas, bps)(bps)	-12	14	-4	-3	-6	-23	0	0	5	2
SG&A expenses as a percentage of net sales (Reported)(%)8	8.9%	9.0%	9.2%		9.2%	9.2%	9.1%		9.0%	9.0%
SG&A rate change y/y — Total (+ = favorable/lower, Reported, bps)(bps)	27	20	-13		-17	-20	8		-8	15
SG&A rate change y/y — Total (+ = favorable/lower, Ex-Gas, bps)(bps)	2	2	-8		-9	-11	9		-2	12
SG&A bridge: Warehouse operations (Reported, bps)(bps)	22	12	-2	-1	-15	-13	7	-15	-4	14
SG&A bridge: Warehouse operations (Ex-Gas, bps)(bps)	0	-3	2	-1	-8	-5	8	-4	0	12
SG&A bridge: Central / administrative (Reported, bps)(bps)	5	3	-4	3	-3	-2	0	-5	-3	1
SG&A bridge: Central / administrative (Ex-Gas, bps)(bps)	2	1	-3	3	-2	-1	0	-3	-2	0
SG&A bridge: Equity compensation (Reported, bps)(bps)	0	0	0	2	1	1	0	2	0	0
SG&A bridge: Pre-opening expenses (Reported, bps)(bps)	0	0	-1	-1	0	-1	1	4	-1	0

Total revenue (Net sales + Membership fees)($M)3	95,723	70,527	69,597	67,307	86,156	63,205	63,723	62,151	79,697	58,515	58,442	57,799
United States segment total revenue($M)	69,889	51,434	49,931	48,569	62,227	46,318	46,413	45,088	57,909	42,449	41,952	41,833
Canadian segment total revenue($M)	12,787	9,410	9,291	9,073	11,902	8,321	8,296	8,404	11,085	8,014	7,874	7,901
Other International segment total revenue($M)	13,047	9,683	10,375	9,665	12,027	8,566	9,014	8,659	10,703	8,052	8,616	8,065
Operating income — Consolidated($M)5	3,801	2,815	2,606	2,463	3,341	2,530	2,316	2,196	3,042	2,197	2,062	1,984
United States segment operating income($M)	2,523	1,873	1,635	1,616	2,152	1,713	1,515	1,498	2,089	1,476	1,294	1,358
Canadian segment operating income($M)	691	506	476	434	634	450	403	362	539	394	390	325
Other International segment operating income($M)	587	436	495	413	555	367	398	336	414	327	378	301
Merchandise costs (Cost of goods sold)($M)	83,531	61,519	60,719	58,510	75,037	54,996	55,744	54,109	69,588	51,173	51,140	50,457
Selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses($M)	8,391	6,193	6,272	6,334	7,778	5,679	5,663	5,846	7,067	5,145	5,240	5,358
Income before income taxes — Consolidated($M)2	4,009	2,938	2,721	2,583	3,510	2,580	2,422	2,306	3,113	2,284	2,237	2,106
Provision for income taxes($M)	1,011	746	686	582	900	677	634	508	759	603	494	517
Net income attributable to Costco($M)	2,998	2,192	2,035	2,001	2,610	1,903	1,788	1,798	2,354	1,681	1,743	1,589
Additions to property and equipment (Capital expenditures)($M)3	2,207	1,413	1,289	1,526	1,966	1,131	1,137	1,264	1,577	1,062	1,031	1,040
United States segment capital expenditures($M)	1,787	1,143	1,016	1,176	1,517	846	938	914
Canadian segment capital expenditures($M)	218	113	152	190	228	99	66	187
Other International segment capital expenditures($M)	202	157	121	160	221	186	133	163
Depreciation and amortization expense — Consolidated($M)3	883	597	597	597	774	552	552	548	706	516	514	501
United States segment D&A($M)	694	460	464	464	600	432	435	428
Canadian segment D&A($M)	71	52	47	49	64	44	43	45
Other International segment D&A($M)	118	85	86	84	110	76	74	75
Total assets — Consolidated (period end)($M)3	89,045	86,430	83,639	82,790	77,099	75,482	73,224	73,386	69,831	67,911	66,323	73,723
United States segment total assets($M)	65,090	62,980	60,142	59,701	54,862				48,816
Canadian segment total assets($M)	8,026	7,925	7,639	7,440	7,304				6,915
Other International segment total assets($M)	15,929	15,525	15,858	15,649	14,933				14,100
Net cash provided by operating activities($M)7	4,684	3,449	2,996	4,688	3,867	3,460	2,748	3,260	2,958	2,999	731	4,651
Cash and cash equivalents (period end)($M)	20,207	18,946	17,383	16,217	14,161	13,836	12,356	10,907	9,906	10,404	9,095	17,011
Short-term investments (period end)($M)	1,094	1,050	857	966	1,123	1,014	802	920	1,238	1,095	1,226	853
Merchandise inventories (period end)($M)	19,324	19,418	18,991	21,141	18,116	18,606	18,754	20,979	18,647	17,430	17,075	18,001
Receivables, net (period end)($M)	3,959	3,750	3,782	3,231	3,203	2,875	3,060	2,963	2,721	2,583	2,779	2,542
Accounts payable (period end)($M)	22,591	22,363	20,647	23,513	19,783	19,820	18,610	21,793	19,421	18,844	17,494	20,357
Accrued salaries and benefits (period end)($M)	5,641	5,218	5,635	5,172	5,205	4,813	5,150	4,785	4,794	4,365	4,801	4,474
Total stockholders' equity (period end)($M)	35,803	33,509	32,087	30,303	29,164	27,125	25,577	24,451	23,622	21,771	20,760	26,147

Property and equipment, net (period end)($M)4	35,633	34,293	33,645	32,616	31,909	30,582	29,809	29,336	29,032	28,062	27,601	27,168
United States net PP&E($M)	25,714	24,644	24,070	23,530	22,790				20,638
Canada net PP&E($M)	3,395	3,258	3,206	3,012	2,930				2,602
Other International net PP&E($M)	6,524	6,391	6,369	6,074	6,189				5,792
Capital expenditures incurred but not yet paid (period end)($M)	2	-17	-23	258	78	-49	-40	204	22	37	-59	203
Total operating and finance lease right-of-use (ROU) assets3
Operating lease right-of-use assets($M)	2,697	2,747	2,759	2,730	2,725	2,718	2,531	2,539	2,617	2,643	2,740	2,672
New operating lease ROU assets obtained in period($M)	36	68	41	93	57	180	42	15	8	-28	127	18
New finance lease ROU assets obtained in period($M)	6	58	40	18	38	-10	-8	111	27	76	68	29
Total operating and finance lease liabilities1
Operating lease liabilities (total)1
Operating lease liabilities — noncurrent($M)	2,414	2,466	2,477	2,436	2,460	2,463	2,284	2,288	2,375	2,386	2,488	2,401
Total lease cost recognized in income statement1
Financing cash outflows from finance lease principal($M)	32	20	14	23	29	20	77	21	23	17	12	84

Stock-based compensation expense (pre-tax)($M)3	153	119	166	486	140	106	151	463	132	106	136	444
Income tax benefit from stock-based compensation($M)	34	27	34	117	31	23	28	101	29	24	25	95
Unrecognized compensation cost on nonvested RSUs (period end)($M)	922	1,092	1,224	1,355	897	1,046	1,175	1,277	848	990	1,098	1,193
Nonvested Restricted Stock Units (RSUs) outstanding (thousands of shares)5	2,000	2,035	2,061	2,032	2,308	2,326	2,362	2,331	2,799	2,830	2,910	2,795
RSUs granted in period (thousands of shares)	0	0	68	1,020	0	0	70	1,025	0	14	90	1,573
RSUs vested/delivered in period (thousands of shares)	-592	8	3	1,285	-724	7	2	1,481	-979	74	3	1,810
RSUs forfeited in period (thousands of shares)	28	18	36	11	14	29	37	12	23	20	24	13
Weighted-average grant-date fair value per nonvested RSU ($/share)($)	728	727	727	720	597	597	597	535	463	463	462	467
Shares available for future equity grants (thousands of shares)	5,280	5,252	5,234	5,199	6,275	6,261	6,232	6,195	7,278	7,255	7,249	7,097

Common shares repurchased3	253,000	184,000	229,000	225,000	285,000	215,000	213,000	230,000	255,000	221,000	240,000	288,000
Average price paid per repurchased share ($/share)($)	965	997	917	932	983	977	967	899	840	733	664	564
Cash paid for share repurchases($M)	245	184	209	210	280	211	205	207	216	162	160	162
Remaining share repurchase authorization (period end)($M)	1,115	1,359	1,542	1,752	1,962	2,242	2,452	2,659	2,865	3,079	3,241	3,401
Cash dividends declared per common share ($/share)($)1	1.47	1.47	1.30	1.30	1.30	1.30	1.16	1.16		1.16	1.02	1.02
Total cash dividends paid($M)	1,304	0	577	577	1,153	515	0	515	514	515	7,107	905

U.S. Quarterly Retail E-Commerce Sales — Seasonally Adjusted (Census / FRED ECOMSA)($M)1		340,244	327,861	317,999	310,817	303,284	297,701	300,329	295,249	288,822	283,038	276,781
U.S. E-Commerce Share of Total Retail Sales — Seasonally Adjusted (ECOMPCTSA)(%)		17.1%	17.0%	16.7%	16.4%	16.3%	16.0%	16.2%	16.2%	16.1%	15.9%	15.5%

2 metrics have no data in the last 12 quarters — .

Italic numbers are calculated by StockData from reported figures (hover for the formula). Numbers with a dotted underline are read from the text of earnings releases and presentations; hover to see the exact sentence. Tick a row to add it to the chart above (up to 8 lines).

Methodology and excluded metrics

Fiscal calendar: Costco operates on a 52/53-week fiscal year ending on the Sunday nearest August 31, divided into thirteen 4-week retail periods (Q1, Q2, and Q3 are 12 weeks each; Q4 is 16 weeks, or 17 weeks in 53-week FY2017 and FY2023). Latest completed fiscal year is FY2026 (ended August 30, 2026; Form 10-K filed October 6, 2026); latest monthly sales release is September 2026 (5-week period ended October 4, 2026, filed October 7, 2026 — one month into FY2027).
Core KPIs (Groups 1–4) cover: (1) Global Warehouse Network across 14 countries (939 warehouses at Q4 FY26 & Sep 2026, 774 gas stations, 138.7M sq ft of operating floor space, 33.6M sq ft of depot space, 755 fully owned land+building locations + 136 owned buildings on leased land, FY27 guidance of 967 warehouses & $7.5B CapEx, and 10-year cohort productivity reaching $292M worldwide and $306M for pre-2018 mature clubs); (2) Comparable Sales (Reported & Adjusted ex. gas/FX) across all segments plus 117 consecutive months of Monthly Retail Sales (Jan 2017 → Sep 2026) and Traffic vs. Ticket decomposition; (3) Membership Base (84.1M paid members, 42.3M Executive members generating 75.6% of worldwide sales, 150.4M total cardholders, 92.3% U.S./Canada and 89.8% worldwide renewal rates, $2,960M deferred membership fees, and $3,262M Executive 2% reward reduction in sales); and (4) Disaggregated Merchandise Category Revenue, Gasoline price/gallon/volume impacts, FX impacts, and Gross Margin / SG&A basis-point bridges.
Group 9 presents 8 years (FY2018–FY2025) of audited UK statutory Group financial statements for Costco Wholesale UK Limited (Company No. 02635489 from UK Companies House: £5.35B turnover, £206.3M operating profit, £164.8M net profit, 8,748 average monthly employees, and 3.97% full-time employee turnover across 29 UK warehouses in FY2025). No parent-only standalone financial statements exist under U.S. GAAP (Form 10-K omits Schedule I), so no Consolidated − Standalone subtraction is performed.
All values are strictly as published (with verbatim quotes on hover for text-extracted metrics; bound figures such as 'less than 4,000 SKUs', 'over $33 billion digitally enabled sales', and 'over 8,100 SIT graduates' are excluded from table cells). The only arithmetic shown in table cells is period splitting (Q4 = full year − 36-week 9M; quarterly cash flow = YTD − prior YTD), displayed in italic with the formula.

Data updated 2026-10-24.

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Costco Wholesale Corp (COST) operating KPIs

KPIs

Every KPI on its own page

Warehouse Network, Country Footprint, Cohort Productivity & Real Estate (Key #1)

Comparable Sales, Traffic vs. Ticket Decomposition & Monthly Retail Sales (Key #2)

Membership Base, Cardholders, Executive Penetration, Renewal Rates & Fee Accounting (Key #3)

Merchandise Category Mix, Gasoline / FX Drivers & Margin Bridge (Key #4)

Geographic Segment Operations & Consolidated Financial Context (DB + XBRL)

PP&E by Asset Category, Uncommenced Leases & Lease Commitments (XBRL)

Workforce, Compensation, 401(k) Plan & Share-Based Compensation

Share Repurchase Activity & Dividends

Subsidiary Statutory Filings: Costco Wholesale UK Limited (Companies House #02635489)

ESG, Climate, Energy, Waste, Packaging, Responsible Sourcing & Supply Chain

U.S. Warehouse Club, Retail & E-Commerce Industry Benchmarks (U.S. Census / FRED)