Costco (COST) Stock Slides as Market Rises: Facts to Know Before You Trade

Costco (COST) ended the recent trading session at $928.48, demonstrating a -1.22% change from the preceding day's closing price. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.46%. At the same time, the Dow added 0.56%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.45%.

Shares of the warehouse club operator have depreciated by 0.83% over the course of the past month, outperforming the Retail-Wholesale sector's loss of 3.73%, and lagging the S&P 500's gain of 2%.

Analysts and investors alike will be keeping a close eye on the performance of Costco in its upcoming earnings disclosure. The company's earnings report is set to go public on September 24, 2026. In that report, analysts expect Costco to post earnings of $6.51 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 10.9%. Alongside, our most recent consensus estimate is anticipating revenue of $94.46 billion, indicating a 9.64% upward movement from the same quarter last year.

For the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $20.42 per share and a revenue of $301.96 billion, representing changes of +13.51% and +9.71%, respectively, from the prior year.

Additionally, investors should keep an eye on any recent revisions to analyst forecasts for Costco. Such recent modifications usually signify the changing landscape of near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the business and profitability.

Our research reveals that these estimate alterations are directly linked with the stock price performance in the near future. To take advantage of this, we've established the Zacks Rank, an exclusive model that considers these estimated changes and delivers an operational rating system.

The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has witnessed a 0.06% increase. Currently, Costco is carrying a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Costco has a Forward P/E ratio of 41.75 right now. This signifies a premium in comparison to the average Forward P/E of 20.79 for its industry.

Also, we should mention that COST has a PEG ratio of 3.89. Comparable to the widely accepted P/E ratio, the PEG ratio also accounts for the company's projected earnings growth. The Retail - Discount Stores industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.82 as trading concluded yesterday.

The Retail - Discount Stores industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. Currently, this industry holds a Zacks Industry Rank of 23, positioning it in the top 10% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the strength of our separate industry groups by calculating the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks contained within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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