COSTCO WHOLESALE CORP /NEW vs WALMART INC., two Discount Stores stocks. A side-by-side on valuation, growth, margins, returns, and what each price is betting.
Where COST and WMT diverge most: on debt / equity, COST reads 0.17 and WMT reads 0.47; on revenue growth, COST reads +9.3% and WMT reads +5.9%. The rest of the comparable metrics sit closer together. On valuation, today's COST price has a different growth bar priced in than WMT (+30.1% implied for COST vs +21.7% for WMT); the higher figure is the steeper assumption to clear, not a better or worse stock. What COST's price implies is an extreme bet versus history and the cohort (whole-company basis). What WMT's price implies is a demanding bet versus history and the cohort (whole-company basis). The bull and bear cases for each are in their full reports below.
| Metric | COST | WMT |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $916.05 | $113.90 |
| Market cap | $407.1B | $911.1B |
| Sector | Discount Stores | Discount Stores |
| Stage | Mature | Mature |
| Implied growth (priced in) | +30.1% | +21.7% |
| P/E | 46.1 | 40.1 |
| P/B | 12.15 | 9.05 |
| P/S | 1.39 | 1.26 |
| EV/EBITDA | 28.6 | 31.4 |
| Revenue growth | +9.3% | +5.9% |
| Operating margin | 4.0% | 4.2% |
| Net margin | 3.0% | 3.1% |
| Return on equity | 26.4% | 22.6% |
| Return on assets | 10.2% | 7.8% |
| Return on invested capital | 22.6% | 15.6% |
| FCF yield | 2.2% | 1.4% |
| Dividend yield | 0.5% | 0.8% |
| Debt / equity | 0.17 | 0.47 |
| Current ratio | 1.07 | 0.77 |
| Altman Z (solvency) | 8.59 | 8.97 |
| Piotroski F (quality) | 6 / 9 | 5 / 9 |
Each week boothcheck ranks the stocks whose prices are betting on the most. Read the most stretched bets archive →
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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.