← Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST)

Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST) Financials

Q3 FY2026, built from SEC filings. Accession numbers are cited throughout so every figure can be checked against sec.gov. The same data is published as JSON at financials.json for agents that prefer to fetch it directly.

Download financials.json

About this file

Ticker	COST
CIK	0000909832
Company	Costco Wholesale Corporation
Business type	consumer_retail_membership_warehouse
Schema template	membership retailer
Schema rationale	Costco is a membership warehouse club, so a plain revenue/cost-of-goods template would hide the economics. Two revenue lines are reported separately throughout: merchandise net sales, which carry a deliberately thin markup, and membership fees, which are close to pure profit. Membership fees were about half of operating income in every period below. Gross margin is therefore presented the way the company itself presents it - merchandise net sales less merchandise costs, expressed as a percentage of net sales, with membership fees excluded - and membership counts, Executive-member penetration, renewal rates, warehouse counts and comparable sales are carried alongside the statements as the operating drivers of the model.
Reporting currency	USD
Converted to USD	no
Units	actual dollars (not millions); share counts are actual shares; per-share figures are actual dollars per share
Fiscal calendar	Costco uses a 52/53-week fiscal year ending on the Sunday closest to August 31. Fiscal 2025 and fiscal 2024 were 52-week years ended August 31, 2025 and September 1, 2024. Fiscal 2023 was a 53-week year ended September 3, 2023, so its results include one extra selling week and are not perfectly comparable to the 52-week years. Fiscal 2026 is a 52-week year ending August 30, 2026; its quarters are 12 weeks long except the fourth, which is 16 weeks.

Annual

	FY2025	FY2024	FY2023
Fiscal year	2025	2024	2023
Period end	2025-08-31	2024-09-01	2023-09-03
Period length	52 weeks	52 weeks	53 weeks
Source accession	0000909832-25-000101	0000909832-25-000101	0000909832-25-000101
Source form	10-K	10-K	10-K
Income statement
Net sales merchandise	269,912,000,000	249,625,000,000	237,710,000,000
Membership fees	5,323,000,000	4,828,000,000	4,580,000,000
Total revenue	275,235,000,000	254,453,000,000	242,290,000,000
Merchandise costs	239,886,000,000	222,358,000,000	212,586,000,000
Gross margin on net sales	30,026,000,000	27,267,000,000	25,124,000,000
Gross margin pct of net sales	11.12	10.92	10.57
Selling general and administrative	24,966,000,000	22,810,000,000	21,590,000,000
Sga pct of net sales	9.25	9.14	9.08
Operating income	10,383,000,000	9,285,000,000	8,114,000,000
Membership fees pct of operating income	51.3	52.0	56.4
Interest expense	-154,000,000	-169,000,000	-160,000,000
Interest income and other net	589,000,000	624,000,000	533,000,000
Income before income taxes	10,818,000,000	9,740,000,000	8,487,000,000
Provision for income taxes	2,719,000,000	2,373,000,000	2,195,000,000
Effective tax rate %	25.1%	24.4%	25.9%
Net income	8,099,000,000	7,367,000,000	6,292,000,000
EPS basic	18.24	16.59	14.18
EPS diluted	18.21	16.56	14.16
Weighted average shares basic	443,985,000	443,914,000	443,854,000
Weighted average shares diluted	444,803,000	444,759,000	444,452,000
Balance sheet
Cash and cash equivalents	14,161,000,000	9,906,000,000	13,700,000,000
Short term investments	1,123,000,000	1,238,000,000
Receivables net	3,203,000,000	2,721,000,000
Merchandise inventories	18,116,000,000	18,647,000,000
Other current assets	1,777,000,000	1,734,000,000
Total current assets	38,380,000,000	34,246,000,000
Property and equipment net	31,909,000,000	29,032,000,000	26,684,000,000
Operating lease right of use assets	2,725,000,000	2,617,000,000
Other long term assets	4,085,000,000	3,936,000,000
Total assets	77,099,000,000	69,831,000,000	68,994,000,000
Accounts payable	19,783,000,000	19,421,000,000
Accrued salaries and benefits	5,205,000,000	4,794,000,000
Accrued member rewards	2,677,000,000	2,435,000,000
Deferred membership fees	2,854,000,000	2,501,000,000
Other current liabilities	6,589,000,000	6,313,000,000
Total current liabilities	37,108,000,000	35,464,000,000
Long term debt excluding current portion	5,713,000,000	5,794,000,000
Current portion of long term debt	75,000,000	103,000,000
Total long term debt carrying value including current	5,788,000,000	5,897,000,000
Long term operating lease liabilities	2,460,000,000	2,375,000,000
Other long term liabilities	2,654,000,000	2,576,000,000
Total liabilities	47,935,000,000	46,209,000,000
Additional paid in capital	8,282,000,000	7,829,000,000
Accumulated other comprehensive loss	-1,770,000,000	-1,828,000,000
Retained earnings	22,650,000,000	17,619,000,000
Total equity	29,164,000,000	23,622,000,000	25,058,000,000
Shares issued and outstanding	443,237,000	443,126,000	442,793,000
Book value per share	65.8	53.31	56.59
Net cash position	9,496,000,000	5,247,000,000
Balance sheet coverage note			The FY2025 10-K's balance sheet presents only August 31, 2025 and September 1, 2024, so the fiscal 2023 figures shown here are drawn from the other statements and notes in that same 10-K that do cover September 3, 2023. Year-end cash comes from the consolidated statements of cash flows; closing equity and the share count come from the consolidated statements of equity; total assets of $68,994 million and property and equipment, net of $26,684 million come from the segment reporting note (Note 11), which discloses both by segment and in total for all three fiscal years. The remaining balance sheet lines - inventories, receivables, payables and debt - are not presented for that date.
Cash flow
Net income	8,099,000,000	7,367,000,000	6,292,000,000
Depreciation and amortization	2,426,000,000	2,237,000,000	2,077,000,000
Non cash lease expense	303,000,000	315,000,000	412,000,000
Stock based compensation	860,000,000	818,000,000	774,000,000
Impairment and other non cash net	-117,000,000	-9,000,000	495,000,000
Change in merchandise inventories	559,000,000	-2,068,000,000	1,228,000,000
Change in accounts payable	404,000,000	1,938,000,000	-382,000,000
Other operating assets and liabilities net	801,000,000	741,000,000	172,000,000
Net cash provided by operating activities	13,335,000,000	11,339,000,000	11,068,000,000
Additions to property and equipment	-5,498,000,000	-4,710,000,000	-4,323,000,000
Free cash flow	7,837,000,000	6,629,000,000	6,745,000,000
Net cash used in investing activities	-5,311,000,000	-4,409,000,000	-4,972,000,000
Repayments of long term debt	-103,000,000	-1,077,000,000	-75,000,000
Proceeds from issuance of long term debt	0	498,000,000	0
Repurchases of common stock	-903,000,000	-700,000,000	-676,000,000
Cash dividend payments	-2,183,000,000	-9,041,000,000	-1,251,000,000
Net cash used in financing activities	-3,775,000,000	-10,764,000,000	-2,614,000,000
Cash and cash equivalents end of year	14,161,000,000	9,906,000,000	13,700,000,000
Dividends
Dividends declared	2,183,000,000	8,589,000,000
Dividends declared per share	4.92	19.36	n/a
Special dividend per share	n/a	15.0
Quarterly dividend rate per share at filing	1.3
Special dividend total paid		6,655,000,000
Dividends declared and other			1,703,000,000
Dividends paid			1,251,000,000
Note			The FY2025 10-K states a per-share dividend only for fiscal 2025 and 2024. The fiscal 2023 amount shown is the 'cash dividends declared and other' line from the consolidated statements of equity; cash actually paid during fiscal 2023 was $1,251 million per the cash flow statement.
Membership metrics
Total paid members	81,000,000	76,200,000	71,000,000
Executive members	38,700,000	35,400,000	32,300,000
Gold star members	68,300,000	63,700,000	58,800,000
Business members including affiliates	12,700,000	12,500,000	12,200,000
Household cards	64,200,000	60,600,000	56,900,000
Total cardholders	145,200,000	136,800,000	127,900,000
Renewal rate US and canada %	92.3%
Renewal rate worldwide %	89.8%
Executive member share of worldwide net sales %	73.6%
Membership fee per paid member	65.72	63.36	64.51
Warehouses in operation	914
Operating metrics
Comparable sales growth total company %	6%	5%	3%
Comparable sales growth ex FX and gasoline total company %	8%	6%	5%
Net sales growth total company %	8%	5%	7%
Ecommerce comparable sales growth %	16%	16%	-6%
Executive member 2pct reward reduction to sales	3,007,000,000	2,804,000,000	2,576,000,000
Segments
United states
Total revenue	200,046,000,000	184,143,000,000	176,630,000,000
Merchandise costs	174,021,000,000	160,573,000,000	154,858,000,000
Sga	19,147,000,000	17,353,000,000	16,380,000,000
Operating income	6,878,000,000	6,217,000,000	5,392,000,000
Depreciation and amortization	1,895,000,000	1,730,000,000	1,599,000,000
Additions to property and equipment	4,215,000,000	3,725,000,000	3,288,000,000
Property and equipment net	22,790,000,000	20,638,000,000	18,760,000,000
Total assets	54,862,000,000	48,816,000,000	49,189,000,000
Canada
Total revenue	36,923,000,000	34,874,000,000	33,056,000,000
Merchandise costs	32,204,000,000	30,543,000,000	29,019,000,000
Sga	2,870,000,000	2,683,000,000	2,589,000,000
Operating income	1,849,000,000	1,648,000,000	1,448,000,000
Depreciation and amortization	196,000,000	192,000,000	183,000,000
Additions to property and equipment	580,000,000	351,000,000	281,000,000
Property and equipment net	2,930,000,000	2,602,000,000	2,443,000,000
Total assets	7,304,000,000	6,915,000,000	6,420,000,000
Other international
Total revenue	38,266,000,000	35,436,000,000	32,604,000,000
Merchandise costs	33,661,000,000	31,242,000,000	28,709,000,000
Sga	2,949,000,000	2,774,000,000	2,621,000,000
Operating income	1,656,000,000	1,420,000,000	1,274,000,000
Depreciation and amortization	335,000,000	315,000,000	295,000,000
Additions to property and equipment	703,000,000	634,000,000	754,000,000
Property and equipment net	6,189,000,000	5,792,000,000	5,481,000,000
Total assets	14,933,000,000	14,100,000,000	13,385,000,000

Quarterly

	FY2026 Q3	FY2025 Q3 (prior-year comparative)	FY2026 year-to-date (first 36 weeks)	FY2025 year-to-date (first 36 weeks, prior-year comparative)	Trailing twelve months ended 2026-05-10
Label	FY2026 Q3	FY2025 Q3 (prior-year comparative)	FY2026 year-to-date (first 36 weeks)	FY2025 year-to-date (first 36 weeks, prior-year comparative)	Trailing twelve months ended 2026-05-10
Period type	fiscal quarter	fiscal quarter	fiscal year-to-date	fiscal year-to-date	trailing twelve months (derived)
Period length	12 weeks	12 weeks	36 weeks	36 weeks
Period start	2026-02-16	2025-02-17	2025-09-01	2024-09-02
Period end	2026-05-10	2025-05-11	2026-05-10	2025-05-11	2026-05-10
Source accession	0000909832-26-000051	0000909832-26-000051	0000909832-26-000051	0000909832-26-000051	0000909832-25-000101; 0000909832-26-000051
Source form	10-Q	10-Q	10-Q	10-Q
Income statement
Net sales merchandise	69,154,000,000	61,965,000,000	203,374,000,000	185,480,000,000	287,806,000,000
Membership fees	1,373,000,000	1,240,000,000	4,057,000,000	3,599,000,000	5,781,000,000
Total revenue	70,527,000,000	63,205,000,000	207,431,000,000	189,079,000,000	293,587,000,000
Merchandise costs	61,519,000,000	54,996,000,000	180,748,000,000	164,849,000,000	255,785,000,000
Gross margin on net sales	7,635,000,000	6,969,000,000	22,626,000,000	20,631,000,000	32,021,000,000
Gross margin pct of net sales	11.04	11.25	11.13	11.12	11.13
Selling general and administrative	6,193,000,000	5,679,000,000	18,799,000,000	17,188,000,000	26,577,000,000
Sga pct of net sales	8.96	9.16	9.24	9.27	9.23
Operating income	2,815,000,000	2,530,000,000	7,884,000,000	7,042,000,000	11,225,000,000
Membership fees pct of operating income	48.8	49.0	51.5	51.1	51.5
Interest expense	-32,000,000	-35,000,000	-100,000,000	-108,000,000	-146,000,000
Interest income and other net	155,000,000	85,000,000	458,000,000	374,000,000	673,000,000
Income before income taxes	2,938,000,000	2,580,000,000	8,242,000,000	7,308,000,000	11,752,000,000
Provision for income taxes	746,000,000	677,000,000	2,014,000,000	1,819,000,000	2,914,000,000
Effective tax rate %	25.4%	26.2%	24.4%	24.9%	24.8%
Net income	2,192,000,000	1,903,000,000	6,228,000,000	5,489,000,000	8,838,000,000
EPS basic	4.94	4.29	14.03	12.36
EPS diluted	4.93	4.28	14.01	12.34	19.89
Weighted average shares basic	443,923,000	443,958,000	443,943,000	443,976,000
Weighted average shares diluted	444,430,000	444,762,000	444,455,000	444,846,000
Operating margin pct of total revenue					3.82
Net margin pct of total revenue					3.01
Weighted average shares diluted latest YTD					444,455,000
Balance sheet
Cash and cash equivalents	18,946,000,000	13,836,000,000
Short term investments	1,050,000,000
Receivables net	3,750,000,000
Merchandise inventories	19,418,000,000
Other current assets	2,013,000,000
Total current assets	45,177,000,000
Property and equipment net	34,293,000,000
Operating lease right of use assets	2,747,000,000
Other long term assets	4,213,000,000
Total assets	86,430,000,000
Accounts payable	22,363,000,000
Accrued salaries and benefits	5,218,000,000
Accrued member rewards	2,948,000,000
Deferred membership fees	3,157,000,000
Other current liabilities	8,439,000,000
Total current liabilities	42,125,000,000
Long term debt excluding current portion	5,670,000,000
Current portion of long term debt	0
Total long term debt carrying value including current	5,670,000,000
Long term operating lease liabilities	2,466,000,000
Other long term liabilities	2,660,000,000
Total liabilities	52,921,000,000
Additional paid in capital	8,683,000,000
Accumulated other comprehensive loss	-1,658,000,000
Retained earnings	26,482,000,000
Total equity	33,509,000,000	27,125,000,000
Shares issued and outstanding	443,514,000	443,519,000
Book value per share	75.55
Net cash position	14,326,000,000
Coverage note		The 10-Q's balance sheet columns are May 10, 2026 and August 31, 2025. The prior-year figures shown here are the ones the same filing presents for May 11, 2025: closing equity and shares from the statements of equity, and end-of-period cash from the statements of cash flows.
Cash flow
Net income			6,228,000,000	5,489,000,000
Depreciation and amortization			1,791,000,000	1,652,000,000	2,565,000,000
Non cash lease expense			221,000,000	208,000,000
Stock based compensation			771,000,000	720,000,000
Other non cash operating activities net			36,000,000	-15,000,000
Change in merchandise inventories			-1,240,000,000	-25,000,000
Change in accounts payable			2,498,000,000	604,000,000
Other operating assets and liabilities net			828,000,000	835,000,000
Net cash provided by operating activities			11,133,000,000	9,468,000,000	15,000,000,000
Additions to property and equipment			-4,228,000,000	-3,532,000,000	-6,194,000,000
Free cash flow			6,905,000,000	5,936,000,000	8,806,000,000
Net cash used in investing activities			-4,160,000,000	-3,343,000,000
Repayments of long term debt			-69,000,000
Repurchases of common stock			-603,000,000	-623,000,000	-883,000,000
Cash dividend payments			-1,154,000,000	-1,030,000,000	-2,307,000,000
Net cash used in financing activities			-2,175,000,000	-2,182,000,000
Cash and cash equivalents end of period			18,946,000,000	13,836,000,000
Shareholder returns total					-3,190,000,000
Cash flow note	The 10-Q presents cash flows only for the 36 weeks ended May 10, 2026; no stand-alone 12-week cash flow statement is filed.
Dividends
Quarterly dividend declared per share	1.47	1.3
Declared date	2026-04-15
Paid date	2026-05-15
Dividends declared in quarter	652,000,000	577,000,000
Dividends declared year to date			1,806,000,000	1,607,000,000
Dividends paid year to date			1,154,000,000	1,030,000,000
Membership metrics
Total paid members	82,900,000	79,600,000
Total cardholders	148,500,000	142,800,000
Renewal rate US and canada %	92.2%
Renewal rate worldwide %	89.7%
Warehouses in operation	928
New warehouses opened in quarter	4
Operating metrics
Net sales growth total company %	12%	8%	10%	8%
Comparable sales growth total company %	10%	6%	8%	6%
Comparable sales growth ex FX and gasoline total company %	7%	8%	7%	8%
Digitally enabled comparable sales growth %	21%		22%
Gasoline price impact on net sales	1,367,000,000
Foreign currency impact on net sales	643,000,000
Shares repurchased			638,000	658,000
Average repurchase price per share			945.46	946.64
Segments
United states
Total revenue	51,434,000,000	46,318,000,000	149,934,000,000	137,819,000,000
Merchandise costs	44,857,000,000	40,239,000,000	130,499,000,000	119,922,000,000
Sga	4,704,000,000	4,366,000,000	14,311,000,000	13,171,000,000
Operating income	1,873,000,000	1,713,000,000	5,124,000,000	4,726,000,000
Depreciation and amortization	460,000,000	432,000,000	1,388,000,000	1,295,000,000
Additions to property and equipment	1,143,000,000	846,000,000	3,335,000,000	2,698,000,000
Canada
Total revenue	9,410,000,000	8,321,000,000	27,774,000,000	25,021,000,000
Merchandise costs	8,171,000,000	7,234,000,000	24,156,000,000	21,828,000,000
Sga	733,000,000	637,000,000	2,202,000,000	1,978,000,000
Operating income	506,000,000	450,000,000	1,416,000,000	1,215,000,000
Depreciation and amortization	52,000,000	44,000,000	148,000,000	132,000,000
Additions to property and equipment	113,000,000	99,000,000	455,000,000	352,000,000
Other international
Total revenue	9,683,000,000	8,566,000,000	29,723,000,000	26,239,000,000
Merchandise costs	8,491,000,000	7,523,000,000	26,093,000,000	23,099,000,000
Sga	756,000,000	676,000,000	2,286,000,000	2,039,000,000
Operating income	436,000,000	367,000,000	1,344,000,000	1,101,000,000
Depreciation and amortization	85,000,000	76,000,000	255,000,000	225,000,000
Additions to property and equipment	157,000,000	186,000,000	438,000,000	482,000,000
Derivation					Fiscal 2025 full year plus the 36 weeks ended May 10, 2026, less the 36 weeks ended May 11, 2025. Built from the FY2025 10-K (accession 0000909832-25-000101) and the third-quarter fiscal 2026 10-Q (accession 0000909832-26-000051); the company does not publish this period itself.
Returns
Return on equity pct using latest equity					26.4
Return on assets pct using latest assets					10.2
Note					Return figures divide trailing-twelve-month net income by the balance-sheet equity and assets at May 10, 2026 rather than by an average balance.

Units notes seen

	Value
FY2025 10-K consolidated statements of income	amounts in millions, except per share data; the share-count rows are labelled "Shares used in calculation (000's)"
FY2025 10-K consolidated statements of comprehensive income	amounts in millions
FY2025 10-K consolidated balance sheets	amounts in millions, except par value and share data; issued-and-outstanding share counts are stated in full shares (443,237,000 and 443,126,000)
FY2025 10-K consolidated statements of equity	amounts in millions; the share column is headed "Shares (000's)"
FY2025 10-K consolidated statements of cash flows	amounts in millions
FY2025 10-K notes to consolidated financial statements	amounts in millions, except share, per share, and warehouse count data
FY2025 10-K net income per share note	shares in 000's
FY2025 10-K membership table (Item 1)	in thousands
FY2026 Q3 10-Q condensed consolidated statements of income	amounts in millions, except per share data (unaudited); the share-count rows are labelled "Shares used in calculation (000s)"
FY2026 Q3 10-Q condensed consolidated balance sheets	amounts in millions, except par value and share data (unaudited); issued-and-outstanding share counts are stated in full shares (443,514,000 and 443,237,000)
FY2026 Q3 10-Q condensed consolidated statements of equity	amounts in millions (unaudited); the share column is headed "Shares (000s)"
FY2026 Q3 10-Q condensed consolidated statements of cash flows	amounts in millions (unaudited)
FY2026 Q3 10-Q notes and management's discussion	amounts in millions, except per share, share, percentages and warehouse count data

Adjustments

	Value
Splits applied	none
Splits note	Costco has had no stock split in the periods covered, so no per-share figure required split adjustment.
ADR ratio	n/a
FX	None applied. Costco reports in U.S. dollars, so no currency conversion was needed. International results are already translated into U.S. dollars inside the filings.

Post quarter update

	Value
Source accession	0000909832-26-000060
Source form	8-K
As of	2026-07-05
Description	After the third-quarter 10-Q, Costco filed a monthly sales press release on July 8, 2026 covering the five retail weeks ended July 5, 2026. It is a sales release only and contains no balance sheet, income statement or cash flow statement, so it is reported here as context rather than as a financial period.
June five week net sales	29,240,000,000
June five week net sales growth %	10.6%
Fiscal year to date 44 week net sales	250,430,000,000
Fiscal year to date 44 week net sales growth %	10.1%
Comparable sales growth 5 weeks total company %	8.8%
Comparable sales growth 44 weeks total company %	8.3%
Quarterly dividend declared per share	1.47
Warehouses in operation	933

Notes

All figures come from two filings: the fiscal 2025 Form 10-K for the year ended August 31, 2025 (accession 0000909832-25-000101, filed October 8, 2025) and the Form 10-Q for the third quarter of fiscal 2026, the 12 weeks ended May 10, 2026 (accession 0000909832-26-000051, filed June 3, 2026). Statement figures are stated in millions in both filings and have been expanded to actual dollars here.
The 10-K's income statement and cash flow statement each present three years (fiscal 2025, 2024 and 2023), while its balance sheet presents only two (August 31, 2025 and September 1, 2024). The fiscal 2023 entry therefore carries a full income statement and cash flow statement, but a partial balance sheet assembled from what the same filing does disclose for September 3, 2023: closing cash, total equity, share count, and total assets and property and equipment, net from the segment reporting note.
Costco reports revenue in two lines and they behave very differently. Merchandise net sales carry a gross margin of roughly 11 percent of net sales; membership fees carry essentially no direct cost. Membership fees of $5,323 million were 51 percent of fiscal 2025 operating income of $10,383 million, and $5,781 million of trailing-twelve-month membership fees were 51 percent of trailing operating income of $11,225 million.
Gross margin is presented here exactly as the company presents it in management's discussion: merchandise net sales less merchandise costs, as a percentage of net sales, with membership fees excluded from both. On that basis gross margin was 11.12 percent in fiscal 2025, 10.92 percent in fiscal 2024 and 10.57 percent in fiscal 2023, and 11.04 percent in the third quarter of fiscal 2026 against 11.25 percent a year earlier.
Fiscal 2023 was a 53-week year. Its revenue, expenses and cash flows include one additional selling week, so year-over-year growth from fiscal 2023 to fiscal 2024 is understated by roughly one week of trading. The 10-K also notes that comparable sales for fiscal 2024 were calculated using comparable retail weeks to remove this effect.
Fiscal 2024 dividends look anomalous because of a special dividend. Cash dividends declared in fiscal 2024 totalled $8,589 million, or $19.36 per share, of which $15.00 per share (about $6,655 million) was a special dividend. Cash dividend payments in that year were $9,041 million. Fiscal 2025 declared dividends returned to a normal $2,183 million, or $4.92 per share. The regular quarterly rate was $1.30 per share at the fiscal 2025 year end and was raised to $1.47 per share, declared April 15, 2026 and paid May 15, 2026.
Total long-term debt is small and static. The carrying value was $5,805 million at August 31, 2025 and $5,684 million at May 10, 2026, before unamortized discounts and issuance costs of $17 million and $14 million. Four series of senior notes ($1,000 million 3.000% due May 2027, $1,250 million 1.375% due June 2027, $1,750 million 1.600% due April 2030 and $1,000 million 1.750% due April 2032) account for $5,000 million of that, with the balance being guaranteed senior notes issued by the Japanese subsidiary. Short-term borrowings outstanding were immaterial at both fiscal 2025 and fiscal 2024 year ends. There was no current portion of long-term debt at May 10, 2026. Costco held $18,946 million of cash and $1,050 million of short-term investments at that date, so it is substantially net cash.
The 10-Q's balance sheet columns are May 10, 2026 and August 31, 2025, not the prior-year quarter. The prior-year quarter figures reported here for May 11, 2025 - total equity of $27,125 million, 443,519,000 shares outstanding and $13,836 million of cash - are taken from the same 10-Q's statements of equity and statements of cash flows, which do present that date.
No stand-alone 12-week cash flow statement exists. The 10-Q's cash flow statement covers only the 36 weeks ended May 10, 2026 and the 36 weeks ended May 11, 2025, so the quarterly entries carry cash flow only at the year-to-date level.
The trailing-twelve-month view is derived, not filed: fiscal 2025 full-year results plus the 36 weeks ended May 10, 2026 less the 36 weeks ended May 11, 2025. Because fiscal 2025 was a 52-week year and both interim stubs are 36 weeks, the resulting period is a clean 52 weeks.
Diluted share count has been essentially flat for years - 444.5 million in fiscal 2023, 444.8 million in fiscal 2024 and 444.8 million in fiscal 2025 - because buybacks are modest and roughly offset restricted stock unit vesting. Costco repurchased 943,000 shares for $903 million in fiscal 2025 and 638,000 shares for $603 million in the first 36 weeks of fiscal 2026. Per-share growth therefore comes almost entirely from earnings growth rather than from share count reduction.
Membership economics improved across the period. Total paid members rose from 71.0 million at fiscal 2023 year end to 76.2 million at fiscal 2024 and 81.0 million at fiscal 2025, and reached 82.9 million at May 10, 2026. Executive members grew from 32.3 million to 38.7 million over the same three fiscal years and represented about 73.6 percent of worldwide net sales in fiscal 2025. Renewal rates were 92.3 percent in the U.S. and Canada and 89.8 percent worldwide at fiscal 2025 year end, and 92.2 percent and 89.7 percent at the end of the third quarter of fiscal 2026. The U.S. and Canada annual fee increase effective September 1, 2024 accounted for roughly 25 percent of third-quarter and 35 percent of year-to-date membership income growth in fiscal 2026.
Capital spending is rising alongside the warehouse count. Additions to property and equipment were $4,323 million in fiscal 2023, $4,710 million in fiscal 2024 and $5,498 million in fiscal 2025, and $4,228 million in the first 36 weeks of fiscal 2026 against $3,532 million a year earlier. Warehouses in operation went from 914 at fiscal 2025 year end to 928 at May 10, 2026.
Third-quarter fiscal 2026 net sales growth of 12 percent was flattered by fuel and currency. The 10-Q states that higher gasoline prices added about $1,367 million (221 basis points) and foreign currency added about $643 million (104 basis points) to net sales. Comparable sales grew 10 percent as reported but 7 percent excluding gasoline prices and currency.
Effective tax rates were 25.9 percent in fiscal 2023, 24.4 percent in fiscal 2024 and 25.1 percent in fiscal 2025, and 25.4 percent in the third quarter of fiscal 2026 versus 26.2 percent a year earlier. Both fiscal 2025 and the fiscal 2026 year-to-date rate were helped by discrete stock-compensation tax benefits ($100 million and $72 million respectively).
Book value per share shown here is total equity divided by shares issued and outstanding at each balance sheet date, using the share counts stated on the face of the balance sheet.
Segment results are the company's own three reportable segments (United States, Canada, Other International), taken from the segment note in each filing with inter-segment sales already eliminated. The United States produced $6,878 million of the $10,383 million of fiscal 2025 operating income.
The most recent filing in the record is a monthly sales press release dated July 8, 2026 (accession 0000909832-26-000060). It reports sales and comparable-sales percentages only, with no financial statements, and is summarised separately rather than treated as a reporting period. The fourth quarter of fiscal 2026 ends August 30, 2026 and had not been reported.

Uncertainties

The fiscal 2023 balance sheet is partial. The fiscal 2025 10-K presents balance sheets for only two dates, so the fiscal 2023 entry carries closing cash, total equity and share count from the cash flow and equity statements, plus total assets of $68,994 million and property and equipment, net of $26,684 million from the segment reporting note. Inventories, receivables, payables and debt at September 3, 2023 are not disclosed anywhere in this filing and are therefore absent.
No per-share dividend figure is disclosed for fiscal 2023. The 10-K's equity note gives per-share dividends only for fiscal 2025 and fiscal 2024. The fiscal 2023 figure reported here is the $1,703 million 'cash dividends declared and other' line from the statements of equity, which is not purely dividends, alongside the $1,251 million actually paid per the cash flow statement.
The first and second quarters of fiscal 2026 are not shown separately. Only the third quarter and the 36-week year-to-date period appear in the 10-Q on hand, so the first two quarters can only be inferred as a combined residual and are not reported individually.
Quarterly cash flow is only available year-to-date. Operating cash flow, capital expenditure and free cash flow for the 12 weeks ended May 10, 2026 in isolation are not disclosed.
Trailing-twelve-month diluted earnings per share of $19.89 is a derived figure calculated as trailing net income divided by the 444,455,000 weighted average diluted shares for the 36 weeks ended May 10, 2026. Because the share count barely moves this is a close approximation, but it is not a figure Costco reports and it will not exactly equal a properly weighted twelve-month calculation.
Return on equity and return on assets shown in the trailing period use the ending balance sheet at May 10, 2026 rather than an average balance across the year, so they are modestly understated relative to an average-balance calculation given that equity and assets both grew over the period.
Fiscal 2023's extra 53rd week is not adjusted out of any figure. Comparisons involving fiscal 2023 carry that distortion.
Total debt reported here is the carrying value of long-term debt from the debt note and balance sheet. It excludes operating and finance lease liabilities, which are disclosed separately, so any measure that treats capitalised leases as debt will show a larger figure.

Company details

	Value
Name	Costco Wholesale Corp /New
Ticker	COST
CIK	0000909832
Exchange	Nasdaq
State	Washington
Incorporation	Washington
SIC	5331
Office	Trade & Services
Industry	Retail-Variety Stores

Next filing

	Value
Predicted date	2026-10-14
Predicted type	10-K

Fiscal period

	FY2026
Fiscal year	2026
Fiscal period	Q3
Tag	FY26Q3
Period end	2026-05-10
Form	10-Q
Accession	0000909832-26-000051
Fiscal year end	0830
Source	facts

Built from Costco Wholesale Corporation's SEC filings by Ticker Scout. Free to cite with attribution: Ticker Scout (tickerscout.ai). Not investment advice, see the Disclaimer. Also for this company: company index, financials.json, index.json.