Costco (COST) vs Walmart (WMT)
COST leads WMT on the current QuantLink comparison, based on the rows where both companies have available metrics and a fixed comparison direction.
Side-by-side scorecard
As of Sep 30, 2026. Unavailable values are shown as — and excluded from the comparable-metric tally.
| Metric | Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST) | Walmart Inc. (WMT) |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
PriceContext only | — | — |
Market capContext only | $403.7B | $827.0B |
| Valuation | ||
P/E ratio | ✓32.85x | 37.50x |
PEG ratio | ✓0.63x | 9.28x |
Price/book | 8.47x | ✓8.43x |
Price/sales | ✓1.00x | 1.13x |
EV/EBITDA | 33.13x | ✓20.90x |
| Profitability | ||
Gross margin | 17.5% | ✓25.2% |
Operating margin | 3.9% | ✓4.4% |
Net margin | ✓3.0% | 3.0% |
ROIC | ✓15.4% | 14.7% |
ROE | ✓25.8% | 22.5% |
EPS | — | — |
| Leverage | ||
Debt/equity | ✓0.13x | 0.75x |
| Dividend | ||
Dividend yield | — | — |
How the comparison is scored
QuantLink marks a row leader only when both companies have a numeric value and the metric has a fixed comparison direction. Lower values lead on valuation multiples and debt/equity, while higher values lead on profitability and dividend yield.
Price and market capitalization are shown for context only, so they do not receive a leader checkmark and do not affect the tally.