COST vs WMT
COST: A membership-based warehouse retailer that sells bulk groceries, household goods, and discretionary items to individual and business members at deeply discounted prices. WMT: A global leader in omnichannel retail leveraging massive scale and supply chain efficiency to provide everyday low prices across grocery, general merchandise, and digital services.
Side-by-side fundamentals
| Metric | COST | WMT | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price as of 2026-08-21 close | $947.74 | $103.70 | |
| Market cap as of 2026-08-24 | $420.3B | $825.3B | |
| P/E as of 2026-08-24 | 48.26 | 40.61 | WMT lower |
| PEG as of 2026-08-24 | 4.05 | 4.00 | WMT lower |
| Net margin as of 2026-08-24 | +3.0% | +3.1% | WMT higher |
| Gross margin as of 2026-08-24 | +12.9% | +25.0% | WMT higher |
| Operating margin as of 2026-08-24 | +3.8% | +4.2% | WMT higher |
| ROE as of 2026-08-24 | +28.3% | +23.9% | COST higher |
| ROA as of 2026-08-24 | +10.7% | +8.0% | COST higher |
| Debt / equity as of 2026-08-24 | 0.17 | 0.62 | COST lower |
| Revenue growth (YoY) as of 2026-08-24 | +9.2% | +5.9% | COST higher |
| Revenue CAGR (3y) SEC XBRL | +6.6% | +5.3% | COST higher |
| Dividend yield as of 2026-08-24 | +0.7% | +0.8% | WMT higher |
| Dividend streak (yrs) SEC XBRL | 1 | 5 | WMT higher |
| Beta as of 2026-08-24 | 0.88 | 0.58 | |
| 1-year return as of 2026-08-21 close | -2.3% | +5.9% | WMT higher |
Fundamentals: market data, as of 2026-08-24. Filings: SEC EDGAR. Prices are delayed daily-close data.
Last updated 2026-08-21.
Informational only — NOT financial advice. All figures are delayed daily-close data from SEC EDGAR & market data, shown with their as-of date; "Edge" cells are a pure numeric comparison, not a recommendation.