Costco (COST) vs Walmart (WMT)
WMT leads COST 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 Aug 20, 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 | $414.0B | $826.4B |
| Valuation | ||
P/E ratio | 46.89x | ✓35.91x |
PEG ratio | 3.69x | ✓1.53x |
Price/book | 12.37x | ✓8.78x |
Price/sales | 1.41x | ✓1.14x |
EV/EBITDA | 27.80x | ✓18.62x |
| Profitability | ||
Gross margin | 12.9% | ✓25.2% |
Operating margin | 3.8% | ✓4.4% |
Net margin | ✓3.0% | 3.0% |
ROIC | ✓22.3% | 14.7% |
ROE | ✓26.4% | 22.5% |
EPS | — | — |
| Leverage | ||
Debt/equity | ✓0.25x | 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.