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 21.8%. The rest of the comparable metrics sit closer together. On valuation, today's COST price has a different growth bar priced in than FIVE (+26.8% implied for COST vs +23.9% for FIVE); the higher figure is the steeper assumption to clear, not a better or worse stock. What COST's price implies is a demanding bet versus history and the cohort (whole-company basis). What FIVE's price implies is a bet that sits within the historical range (whole-company basis). The bull and bear cases for each are in their full reports below.
| Metric | COST | FIVE |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $904.83 | $244.66 |
| Market cap | $402.1B | $13.6B |
| Sector | Discount Stores | Discount Stores |
| Stage | Mature | Growth |
| Implied growth (priced in) | +26.8% | +23.9% |
| P/E | 45.5 | 21.9 |
| P/B | 12.00 | 5.48 |
| P/S | 1.37 | 2.55 |
| EV/EBITDA | 29.9 | 13.2 |
| Revenue growth | +9.3% | +25.7% |
| Operating margin | 4.0% | 21.8% |
| Net margin | 3.0% | 11.7% |
| Return on equity | 26.4% | 25.0% |
| Return on assets | 10.2% | 11.7% |
| Return on invested capital | 22.6% | 24.1% |
| FCF yield | 2.2% | 4.4% |
| Dividend yield | 0.5% | — |
| Debt / equity | 0.17 | 0.00 |
| Current ratio | 1.07 | 2.22 |
| Altman Z (solvency) | 8.53 | 4.99 |
| Piotroski F (quality) | 6 / 9 | 5 / 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.