Costco (COST) Surpasses Market Returns: Some Facts Worth Knowing

Costco (COST) closed the most recent trading day at $928.04, moving +1.82% from the previous trading session. The stock's change was more than the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.17%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.48%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.46%. The warehouse club operator's shares have seen a decrease of 0.43% over the last month, not keeping up with the Retail-Wholesale sector's gain of 0.84% and the S&P 500's gain of 2.38%.The investment community will be paying close attention to the earnings performance of Costco in its upcoming release. The company's upcoming EPS is projected at $4.24, signifying a 10.99% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year. At the same time, our most recent consensus estimate is projecting a revenue of $67.2 billion, reflecting a 8.13% rise from the equivalent quarter last year. For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates project earnings of $19.97 per share and a revenue of $296.46 billion, demonstrating changes of +11.01% and +7.71%, respectively, from the preceding year. Additionally, investors should keep an eye on any recent revisions to analyst forecasts for Costco. These latest adjustments often mirror the shifting dynamics of short-term business patterns. Therefore, positive revisions in estimates convey analysts' confidence in the business performance and profit potential. Empirical research indicates that these revisions in estimates have a direct correlation with impending stock price performance. To exploit this, we've formed the Zacks Rank, a quantitative model that includes these estimate changes and presents a viable rating system. The Zacks Rank system, ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), possesses a remarkable history of outdoing, externally audited, with #1 stocks returning an average annual gain of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.08% lower. Costco is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Digging into valuation, Costco currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 45.63. This signifies a premium in comparison to the average Forward P/E of 25.66 for its industry. We can additionally observe that COST currently boasts a PEG ratio of 5.53. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. Retail - Discount Stores stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 2.7 based on yesterday's closing prices. The Retail - Discount Stores industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 70, putting it in the top 29% of all 250+ industries. The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks 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. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).Zacks Investment ResearchWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks