Costco Wholesale Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the operation of membership warehouses in the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico, Japan, the United Kingdom, Korea, Australia, Taiwan, China, Spain, France, Iceland, New Zealand, and Sweden. It offers merchandise, including sundries, dry groceries, candies, coolers, freezers, deli, liquor, and tobacco; non-food merchandise comprising appliances, small electronics, health and beauty …
Full COST analysis →
Competitive advantage assessment
Key strengths
ROIC Sustainably Above PeersROIC at 89.0th percentile exceeds peers and WACC, demonstrating superior capital allocation.
Margins Stable Across CyclesOperating margin volatility is low (stability score 1.00), demonstrating pricing resilience across cycles.
Where COST ranks in Consumer Defensive: Staples & Essential Services
Costco Wholesale Corporation ranks #66 of 265
scored companies in Consumer Defensive: Staples & Essential Services by moat score — the top 25%.
The widest moat in the group is Brown Forman Inc (BF-A)
at 93/100.
Moat scores for companies ranked near COST in Consumer Defensive: Staples & Essential Services
Pricing power is the ability to raise prices without losing volume.
Cost Advantage
Score 72
· 15% of the moat score
A cost advantage means delivering the same product for structurally less — better purchasing, denser distribution, a more automated process.
Customer Stickiness
Score 65
· 15% of the moat score
Stickiness is what makes revenue repeat without being re-won every year.
Capital Efficiency
Score 91
· 18% of the moat score
Capital efficiency asks what the company earns on the money tied up in the business.
Resilience
Score 64
· 17% of the moat score
Resilience is the capacity to get through a bad year on its own terms — enough liquidity, enough interest cover, and enough cash generation to avoid a rescue financing or a forced sale.
Scale & Market Position
Score 45
· 15% of the moat score
Scale matters only when it converts into economics.
What is Costco Wholesale Corporation's moat score?
Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST) scores 67 out of 100 on the StatsAlpha Moat Map, which rates its competitive advantage as moderate. It ranks #66 of 265 scored companies in Consumer Defensive: Staples & Essential Services, the top 25%. The score is a weighted composite of 6 competitive defenses, each measured against industry peers of 264 companies in Consumer Defensive: Staples & Essential Services. Its strongest defense is Capital Efficiency (91/100) and its weakest is Scale & Market Position (45/100).
How does Costco Wholesale Corporation compare with other Consumer Defensive: Staples & Essential Services companies?
Costco Wholesale Corporation ranks #66 of 265 scored companies in Consumer Defensive: Staples & Essential Services by moat score. The widest moat in Consumer Defensive: Staples & Essential Services is Brown Forman Inc (BF-A) at 93/100. The companies ranked closest are Lifevantage Corporation (LFVN) at 67 just above it and TAL Education Group (TAL) at 67 just below it.
How is the moat score calculated?
Each company is scored with an industry-specific template — Corporate Default in this case, chosen because the defenses that matter to a bank are not the ones that matter to a software company. Every defense combines several financial signals, and each signal is measured as a percentile against a peer group of 264 companies in Consumer Defensive: Staples & Essential Services. The defenses are then weighted to produce the overall score out of 100.
Why is Costco Wholesale Corporation scored with the Corporate Default template?
Most public companies sell a product or a service at a margin, so the moat question is whether that margin survives contact with competitors. The Corporate template scores the six defenses that show up in a general operating company's financial signature: whether it can hold price, produce more cheaply than rivals, keep its customers, earn a return above its cost of capital, withstand a downturn, and turn size into economics.
Which competitive defenses are measured for Costco Wholesale Corporation?
The Corporate Default template measures 6 defenses, and COST scores: Pricing Power (60), Cost Advantage (72), Customer Stickiness (65), Capital Efficiency (91), Resilience (64), Scale & Market Position (45). Each is scored independently as a percentile against peers, so a company can be strong on one and weak on another — the overall score reflects how those defenses are weighted for this industry.
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