Costco WholesaleCOST +0.67%97 WACC % is 8.08% as of Jun. 24, 2026, which is 11% above its 10-year median of 7.27. GuruFocus rates COST with a GF Score™ of 97/100 and a GF Value™ of $1,014.93 (Fairly Valued). The stock has 1 warning sign investors should review. Among 316 Retail - Defensive companies, Costco Wholesale ranks worse than 63.61% on this metric.
As of today (2026-06-24), Costco Wholesale's weighted average cost of capital is 8.08%%. Costco Wholesale's ROIC % is 16.84% (calculated using TTM income statement data).
Costco Wholesale generates higher returns on investment than it costs the company to raise the capital needed for that investment. It is earning excess returns. A firm that expects to continue generating positive excess returns on new investments in the future will see its value increase as growth increases.
For a comprehensive WACC calculation, please access the WACC Calculator.
Costco Wholesale (NAS:COST) WACC % Explanation
Because it costs money to raise capital. A firm that generates higher ROIC % than it costs the company to raise the capital needed for that investment is earning excess returns. A firm that expects to continue generating positive excess returns on new investments in the future will see its value increase as growth increases, whereas a firm that earns returns that do not match up to its cost of capital will destroy value as it grows.
As of today, Costco Wholesale's weighted average cost of capital is 8.08%%. Costco Wholesale's ROIC % is 16.84% (calculated using TTM income statement data).
Costco Wholesale generates higher returns on investment than it costs the company to raise the capital needed for that investment. It is earning excess returns. A firm that expects to continue generating positive excess returns on new investments in the future will see its value increase as growth increases.
Be Aware
1. GuruFocus uses book value of debt (D) to do the calculation. It is simplified by adding latest one-year quarterly average Short-Term Debt & Capital Lease Obligation and Long-Term Debt & Capital Lease Obligation together.
For companies that report quarterly, GuruFocus combines all of the most recent year's quarterly debt data from the beginning of the year to the year-end and calculates the average.
For companies that report semi-annually, GuruFocus combines all of the most recent year's semi-annual debt data from the start of the year to the year-end and calculates the average.
For companies that report annually, GuruFocus combines the beginning and ending annual debt data from the most recent year and then calculates the average.
2. The WACC formula discussed above does not include Preferred Stock. Please adjust if preferred stock is considered.
3. (Expected Return of the Market - Risk-Free Rate of Return) is also called market premium. GuruFocus requires market premium to be 6%.
4. GuruFocus uses the latest TTM Interest Expense divided by the latest one-year quarterly average debt to get the simplified cost of debt.
Related Terms
Costco Wholesale WACC % Historical Data
* Premium members only.
The historical data trend for Costco Wholesale's WACC % can be seen below:
* For Operating Data section: All numbers are indicated by the unit behind each term and all currency related amount are in USD. * For other sections: All numbers are in millions except for per share data, ratio, and percentage. All currency related amount are indicated in the company's associated stock exchange currency.
For the Discount Stores subindustry, Costco Wholesale's WACC %, along with its competitors' market caps and WACC % data, can be viewed below:
* Competitive companies are chosen from companies within the same industry, with headquarter located in same country, with closest market capitalization; x-axis shows the market cap, and y-axis shows the term value; the bigger the dot, the larger the market cap. Note that "N/A" values will not show up in the chart.
Costco Wholesale WACC % vs Retail - Defensive Industry
For the Retail - Defensive industry and Consumer Defensive sector, Costco Wholesale's WACC % distribution charts can be found below:
* The bar in red indicates where Costco Wholesale's WACC % falls into.
The weighted average cost of capital (WACC) is the rate that a company is expected to pay on average to all its security holders to finance its assets. The WACC is commonly referred to as the firm's cost of capital. Generally speaking, a company's assets are financed by debt and equity. WACC is the average of the costs of these sources of financing, each of which is weighted by its respective use in the given situation. By taking a weighted average, we can see how much interest the company has to pay for every dollar it finances.
WACC
=
E
/
(E + D)
*
Cost of Equity
+
D
/
(E + D)
*
Cost of Debt
*
(1 - Tax Rate)
1. Weights:
Generally speaking, a company's assets are financed by debt and equity. We need to calculate the weight of equity and the weight of debt.
The market value of equity (E) is also called "Market Cap". As of today, Costco Wholesale's market capitalization (E) is $427562.348 Mil.
The market value of debt is typically difficult to calculate, therefore, GuruFocus uses book value of debt (D) to do the calculation. It is simplified by adding the latest one-year quarterly average Short-Term Debt & Capital Lease Obligation and Long-Term Debt & Capital Lease Obligation together. As of May. 2026, Costco Wholesale's latest one-year quarterly average Book Value of Debt (D) is $8151.2 Mil.
a) weight of equity = E / (E + D) = 427562.348 / (427562.348 + 8151.2) = 0.9813
b) weight of debt = D / (E + D) = 8151.2 / (427562.348 + 8151.2) = 0.0187
2. Cost of Equity:
GuruFocus uses Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) to calculate the required rate of return. The formula is:
Cost of Equity = Risk-Free Rate of Return + Beta of Asset * (Expected Return of the Market - Risk-Free Rate of Return)
a) GuruFocus uses 10-Year Treasury Constant Maturity Rate as the risk-free rate. It is updated daily. The current risk-free rate is 4.406%. Please go to Economic Indicators page for more information. Please note that we use the 10-Year Treasury Constant Maturity Rate of the country/region where the company is headquartered. If the data for that country/region is not available, then we will use the 10-Year Treasury Constant Maturity Rate of the United States as default.
b) Beta is the sensitivity of the expected excess asset returns to the expected excess market returns. Costco Wholesale's beta is 0.6334.
c) (Expected Return of the Market - Risk-Free Rate of Return) is also called market premium. GuruFocus requires market premium to be 6%.
Cost of Equity = 4.406% + 0.6334 * 6% = 8.2064%
3. Cost of Debt:
GuruFocus uses latest TTM Interest Expense divided by the latest one-year quarterly average debt to get the simplified cost of debt.
As of May. 2026, Costco Wholesale's interest expense (positive number) was $146 Mil. Its total Book Value of Debt (D) is $8151.2 Mil.
Cost of Debt = 146 / 8151.2 = 1.7911%.
4. Multiply by one minus TTM Tax Rate:
GuruFocus uses the most recent TTM Tax Expense divided by the most recent TTM Pre-Tax Income to calculate the tax rate. The calculated TTM tax rate is limited to between 0% and 100%. If the calculated tax rate is higher than 100%, it is set to 100%. If the calculated tax rate is less than 0%, it is set to 0%.
The latest calculated TTM Tax Rate = 2914 / 11752 = 24.8%.
Costco Wholesale's Weighted Average Cost Of Capital (WACC) for Today is calculated as:
WACC
=
E / (E + D)
*
Cost of Equity
+
D / (E + D)
*
Cost of Debt
*
(1 - Tax Rate)
=
0.9813
*
8.2064%
+
0.0187
*
1.7911%
*
(1 - 24.8%)
=
8.08%
* For Operating Data section: All numbers are indicated by the unit behind each term and all currency related amount are in USD. * For other sections: All numbers are in millions except for per share data, ratio, and percentage. All currency related amount are indicated in the company's associated stock exchange currency.
Costco Wholesale (COST) has a WACC % of 8.08% as of Jun. 24, 2026. The weighted average cost of capital (WACC) is the average rate a company pays to finance assets. View historical data on Costco Wholesale and its competitors. This is 11% above median its historical median of 7.27. Over the past decade, Costco Wholesale's WACC % has ranged from 4.16 to 10.70. According to the industry distribution chart, Costco Wholesale ranks #201 out of 316 companies in the Retail - Defensive industry, placing it in the top 63.6%.
Is Costco Wholesale's WACC % too high?
Costco Wholesale's current WACC % of 8.08% is 11% above median its 10-year median of 7.27. Over the past 10 years, this metric has ranged from a low of 4.16 to a high of 10.70. The Retail - Defensive industry median WACC % is 6.17. Costco Wholesale's value of 8.08% is 31.1% above this industry median. Based on the distribution chart, Costco Wholesale ranks #201 out of 316 companies in the Retail - Defensive industry, which is below the industry midpoint. Overall, Costco Wholesale has a GF Score™ of 97/100 and is considered Fairly Valued, reflecting its overall financial health beyond just this single metric.
How does Costco Wholesale's WACC % compare to TGT and DG?
According to the Retail - Defensive industry distribution chart, Costco Wholesale ranks #201 out of 316 companies for WACC %. This places Costco Wholesale in the lower half of its industry. The industry median WACC % is 6.17. Costco Wholesale's value of 8.08% is 31.1% above this benchmark. Historically, Costco Wholesale's own WACC % has ranged from 4.16 to 10.70 over the past decade. While the company's 10-year median is 7.27 vs. the industry median of 6.17, Costco Wholesale has consistently been above the industry average. See the competitive comparison table and distribution chart on this page for a detailed peer-by-peer breakdown.
What is a good WACC % for a Retail - Defensive company?
The median WACC % among Retail - Defensive companies is 6.17, based on 316 companies in the industry. Companies in the top quartile (top 25%) have a WACC % significantly above this median, while those in the bottom quartile fall well below. However, WACC % should not be evaluated in isolation — investors should consider it alongside profitability, growth, and financial strength metrics. Costco Wholesale's current WACC % of 8.08% is 31.1% above the industry median. Use the industry distribution chart on this page to see where any company falls relative to its peers.
What does a high WACC % mean?
A high WACC % can signal that a stock is expensive relative to its fundamentals. The weighted average cost of capital (WACC) is the average rate a company pays to finance assets. View historical data on Costco Wholesale and its competitors. For the Retail - Defensive industry, the median WACC % is 6.17 — values significantly above this may indicate overvaluation, while values below may suggest a bargain or underlying issues. Costco Wholesale's current WACC % is 8.08%, which is 11% above median its own 10-year median of 7.27. However, context matters — high-growth companies often justify higher valuations. Always evaluate alongside other metrics like GF Score™ and GF Value™.
Is Costco Wholesale stock overvalued right now?
Based on GuruFocus' analysis, Costco Wholesale (COST) is currently considered Fairly Valued. The stock's GF Value™ is $1,014.93, compared to a current price of $964.11 — trading 5% below its estimated fair value. The current WACC % is 8.08%, which is 11% above median its 10-year median of 7.27 and 31.1% above the Retail - Defensive industry median of 6.17. Costco Wholesale's overall GF Score™ is 97/100 with 1 warning sign to review. Investors should evaluate multiple metrics — including profitability, growth, and financial strength — before making a decision.
How is WACC % calculated?
WACC % is calculated from a company's financial statements. For Costco Wholesale (COST), the current WACC % is 8.08% as of Jun. 24, 2026. GuruFocus calculates this using data sourced from SEC filings and annual reports. See the calculation section and 30-year financial data on this page for the full breakdown.
Is Costco Wholesale (COST) Overvalued in 2026?
Based on GuruFocus' analysis, Costco Wholesale stock appears to be undervalued.
The current stock price of $964.11 is trading 5% below its estimated GF Value™ of $1,014.93.
GuruFocus considers Costco Wholesale to be Fairly Valued.
Key valuation signals for COST:
WACC %: 8.08% (11% above median its 10-year median of 7.27)
GF Value™: $1,014.93 vs. price of $964.11 (5% below fair value)
Industry Position: 31.1% above the Retail - Defensive median (#201 of 316)
No single metric tells the full story. See the COST stock analysis page for a complete view including 30-year financials, guru trades, and insider activity.
Founded in 1983, Costco Wholesale now operates a global chain of membership-based warehouse clubs, delivering high-quality goods and services at consistently low prices. As of its most recent fiscal year, Costco operated approximately 910 warehouses, serving more than 80 million members across its three geographic segments: Costco US (approximately 73% of total revenue), Costco Canada (13%), and Costco International (14%).Costco's core value proposition—quality products at unbeatable prices—has yielded consistently strong member renewal rates (93% in the US and Canada and nearly 90% internationally). About 55% of Costco's fiscal 2025 revenue came from its grocery offerings, and another 25% from general merchandise.
97GF Score
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