COSTCO WHOLESALE CORP /NEW vs Five Below, Inc., two Discount Stores stocks. A side-by-side on valuation, growth, margins, returns, and what each price is betting.
Where COST and FIVE diverge most: on debt / equity, COST reads 0.17 and FIVE reads 0.00; on operating margin, COST reads 4.0% and FIVE reads 12.0%. The rest of the comparable metrics sit closer together. What COST's price implies is an extreme bet versus history and the cohort (whole-company basis). What FIVE's price implies is a somewhat stretched bet versus history (whole-company basis). The bull and bear cases for each are in their full reports below.
| Metric | COST | FIVE |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $935.35 | $202.97 |
| Market cap | $415.7B | $11.3B |
| Sector | Discount Stores | Discount Stores |
| Stage | Mature | Growth |
| Implied growth (priced in) | +32.1% | — |
| P/E | 47.0 | 25.6 |
| P/B | 12.41 | 4.88 |
| P/S | 1.42 | 2.22 |
| EV/EBITDA | 30.9 | 14.1 |
| Revenue growth | +9.3% | +25.9% |
| Operating margin | 4.0% | 12.0% |
| Net margin | 3.0% | 8.7% |
| Return on equity | 26.4% | 19.1% |
| Return on assets | 10.2% | 8.7% |
| Return on invested capital | 22.6% | 18.4% |
| FCF yield | 2.1% | 4.5% |
| Dividend yield | 0.5% | — |
| Debt / equity | 0.17 | 0.00 |
| Current ratio | 1.07 | 2.10 |
| Altman Z (solvency) | 8.69 | 4.42 |
| Piotroski F (quality) | 6 / 9 | 6 / 9 |
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The stronger value is highlighted per metric where one is strictly better on that single number; it is not an overall verdict on either company. For informational and research purposes only. Not investment advice. Not a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security. boothcheck is not a registered investment adviser. Past performance does not guarantee future results.