Costco Wholesale (COST) Competitors

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

Does the media prefer WMT or COST?

In the previous week, Costco Wholesale had 47 more articles in the media than Walmart. MarketBeat recorded 102 mentions for Costco Wholesale and 55 mentions for Walmart. Costco Wholesale's average media sentiment score of 0.60 beat Walmart's score of 0.59 indicating that Walmart is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Walmart	27 Very Positive mention(s)	7 Positive mention(s)	15 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Costco Wholesale	34 Very Positive mention(s)	16 Positive mention(s)	30 Neutral mention(s)	5 Negative mention(s)	2 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of WMT or COST?

26.8% of Walmart shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 68.5% of Costco Wholesale shares are owned by institutional investors. 45.6% of Walmart shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Costco Wholesale shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer WMT or COST?

Costco Wholesale received 322 more outperform votes than Walmart when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 71.91% of users gave Costco Wholesale an outperform vote while only 60.39% of users gave Walmart an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Walmart	Outperform Votes 1470 60.39%	Underperform Votes 964 39.61%
Costco Wholesale	Outperform Votes 1792 71.91%	Underperform Votes 700 28.09%

Which has stronger earnings & valuation, WMT or COST?

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
Walmart	$648.13B	0.82	$15.51B	$2.34	28.14
Costco Wholesale	$253.70B	1.42	$6.29B	$15.29	52.97

Do analysts prefer WMT or COST?

Walmart presently has a consensus price target of $68.01, suggesting a potential upside of 3.42%. Costco Wholesale has a consensus price target of $743.52, suggesting a potential downside of 8.20%. Given Costco Wholesale's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Walmart is more favorable than Costco Wholesale.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Walmart	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	27 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.87
Costco Wholesale	0 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	19 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.73

Which has more volatility and risk, WMT or COST?

Walmart has a beta of 0.49, suggesting that its stock price is 51% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Costco Wholesale has a beta of 0.77, suggesting that its stock price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is WMT or COST more profitable?

Walmart has a net margin of 2.88% compared to Walmart's net margin of 2.73%. Walmart's return on equity of 28.80% beat Costco Wholesale's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Walmart	2.88%	21.57%	7.38%
Costco Wholesale	2.73%	28.80%	9.98%

Is WMT or COST a better dividend stock?

Walmart pays an annual dividend of $0.83 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Costco Wholesale pays an annual dividend of $4.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.6%. Walmart pays out 35.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Costco Wholesale pays out 30.3% 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. Walmart has increased its dividend for 52 consecutive years and Costco Wholesale has increased its dividend for 21 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 11 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.