Company financialsRetail and consumerFrom SEC filings
Costco financials, fiscal 2016 to 2025
COSTCO WHOLESALE CORP /NEW · Nasdaq: COST
Latest fiscal year ended August 31, 2025
10-K filed October 8, 2025 · 0000909832-25-000101
Updated
Costco's revenue rose 8.2% to $275.2B in fiscal 2025. Its operating margin was 3.8%, up from 3.6% a year earlier. Free cash flow was $7.8B, up 18.2%. It paid out $3.1B in dividends and buybacks, 39% of free cash flow.
Revenue
$275.2B
▲ 8.2%
Operating margin
3.8%
▲ 0.1 pts
Free cash flow
$7.8B
▲ 18.2%
Return on invested capital
37.9%
Piotroski F-score
8 of 9
Revenue and margins
Revenue
US$ billions, fiscal years
Margins
Percent of revenue
GrossOperatingNetFree cash flow
Returns on capital
Return on invested capital and on equity
Percent. Both use the average of opening and closing balances.
Return on invested capitalReturn on equity
Cash flow
Free cash flow
US$ billions. Cash from operations minus capital expenditure; negative years in red.
Try a discounted cash flow model
A discounted cash flow (DCF) model values a business as the cash it may generate in future, discounted back to today. The starting figures below come from Costco's 10-K. The four assumptions start at the same example values on every company page, so they are not The Filing Desk's view of Costco. Change them to see what different assumptions imply.
Value per share on these assumptions
—
—
- Cash flows in years 1 to 10, valued today
- —
- Everything after year 10, valued today
- —
- Plus net cash
- —
- Share of value from after year 10
Projected free cash flow
US$ billions. Each column is one year's projected free cash flow, split into what it is worth today and the part removed by discounting.
Value todayRemoved by discounting
How the value changes with two assumptions
Value per share in US$, with the growth rates above. The highlighted cell matches the current assumptions.
How the model works. Free cash flow grows at the first rate for five years and the second rate for five more, and each year is discounted at the discount rate. Everything after year 10 is valued as year-10 cash flow × (1 + growth after year 10) ÷ (discount rate − growth after year 10), discounted back ten years. Net cash is added and the total is divided by diluted shares. The result depends entirely on the assumptions. It is not a forecast, a price target or a recommendation, and this site does not show share prices.
Payouts and share count
Dividends and buybacks
US$ billions, cash paid in each fiscal year
DividendsShare buybacks
Diluted share count
Weighted-average diluted shares, millions
Balance sheet
| Fiscal year end | FY21 | FY22 | FY23 | FY24 | FY25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cash and short-term investments | 12.2 | 11.0 | 15.2 | 11.1 | 15.3 |
| Debt incl. finance leases | 8.6 | 6.6 | — | 7.4 | 7.3 |
| Net debt (negative means net cash) | −3.6 | −4.4 | — | −3.7 | −8.0 |
| Net debt to EBITDA | −0.4x | −0.5x | — | −0.3x | −0.6x |
| Debt to equity | 0.5x | 0.3x | — | 0.3x | 0.2x |
| Interest coverage | 39.2x | 49.3x | 50.7x | 54.9x | 67.4x |
| Current ratio | 1.0x | 1.0x | 1.1x | 1.0x | 1.0x |
| Quick ratio | 0.5x | 0.5x | 0.6x | 0.4x | 0.6x |
US$ billions unless stated, at each fiscal year end.
Piotroski F-score
The F-score counts how many of nine simple tests of profitability, funding and efficiency a company passed in a year (Piotroski, 2000). Companies that report no gross profit are scored on the other eight.
| Test | FY23 | FY24 | FY25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Net income is positive | Pass | Pass | Pass |
| Cash from operations is positive | Pass | Pass | Pass |
| Return on assets rose | Fail | Pass | Pass |
| Cash from operations exceeds net income | Pass | Pass | Pass |
| Debt fell relative to assets | — | — | Pass |
| Current ratio rose | Pass | Fail | Pass |
| Share count didn't rise | Pass | Fail | Fail |
| Gross margin rose | Pass | Pass | Pass |
| Revenue rose relative to assets | Fail | Fail | Pass |
| F-score | — | — | 8 of 9 |
| Accruals ratio | −7.2% | −5.7% | −7.1% |
The accruals ratio is net income minus cash from operations, over average total assets.
Compared with peers
| Company | Year | Revenue growth | Operating margin | FCF margin | ROIC | Net debt / EBITDA | F-score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Costco | FY25 | 8.2% | 3.8% | 2.9% | 37.9% | −0.6x | 8 |
| Walmart | FY26 | 4.7% | 4.2% | 2.1% | 16.1% | 0.9x | 7 |
| Target | FY25 | −1.7% | 4.9% | 2.7% | 15.0% | 1.3x | 6 |
| Amazon | FY25 | 12.4% | 11.2% | 1.1% | 20.6% | −0.3x | 6 |
Each company's latest fiscal year. Fiscal years end in different months, so the periods don't line up exactly.
10 years of figures
| Fiscal year | FY16 | FY17 | FY18 | FY19 | FY20 | FY21 | FY22 | FY23 | FY24 | FY25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Income statement | ||||||||||
| Revenue | 118.7 | 129.0 | 141.6 | 152.7 | 166.8 | 195.9 | 227.0 | 242.3 | 254.5 | 275.2 |
| Revenue growth | 2.2% | 8.7% | 9.7% | 7.9% | 9.2% | 17.5% | 15.8% | 6.8% | 5.0% | 8.2% |
| Gross profit | 15.8 | 17.1 | 18.4 | 16.5 | 21.8 | 25.2 | 27.6 | 29.7 | 32.1 | 35.3 |
| Research and development | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Operating income | 3.7 | 4.1 | 4.5 | 4.7 | 5.4 | 6.7 | 7.8 | 8.1 | 9.3 | 10.4 |
| Net income | 2.4 | 2.7 | 3.1 | 3.7 | 4.0 | 5.0 | 5.8 | 6.3 | 7.4 | 8.1 |
| Diluted EPS (US$) | 5.33 | 6.08 | 7.09 | 8.26 | 9.02 | 11.27 | 13.14 | 14.16 | 16.56 | 18.21 |
| Diluted shares (millions) | 441 | 441 | 442 | 443 | 444 | 444 | 445 | 444 | 445 | 445 |
| Cash flow | ||||||||||
| Cash from operations | 3.3 | 6.7 | 5.8 | 6.4 | 8.9 | 9.0 | 7.4 | 11.1 | 11.3 | 13.3 |
| Capital expenditure | 2.6 | 2.5 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 2.8 | 3.6 | 3.9 | 4.3 | 4.7 | 5.5 |
| Free cash flow | 0.6 | 4.2 | 2.8 | 3.4 | 6.1 | 5.4 | 3.5 | 6.7 | 6.6 | 7.8 |
| Dividends paid | 0.7 | 3.9 | 0.7 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 5.7 | 1.5 | 1.3 | 9.0 | 2.2 |
| Share buybacks | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.9 |
| Acquisitions | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Stock-based compensation | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 0.9 |
| Balance sheet at fiscal year end | ||||||||||
| Cash and short-term investments | 4.7 | 5.8 | 7.3 | 9.4 | 13.3 | 12.2 | 11.0 | 15.2 | 11.1 | 15.3 |
| Debt incl. finance leases | 5.2 | 6.7 | 6.6 | 6.9 | 8.3 | 8.6 | 6.6 | — | 7.4 | 7.3 |
| Total assets | 33.2 | 36.3 | 40.8 | 45.4 | 55.6 | 59.3 | 64.2 | 69.0 | 69.8 | 77.1 |
| Total liabilities | 20.8 | 25.3 | 27.7 | 29.8 | 36.9 | 41.2 | 43.5 | 43.9 | 46.2 | 47.9 |
| Shareholders' equity | 12.1 | 10.8 | 12.8 | 15.2 | 18.3 | 17.6 | 20.6 | 25.1 | 23.6 | 29.2 |
| Margins and ratios | ||||||||||
| Gross margin | 13.3% | 13.3% | 13.0% | 10.8% | 13.1% | 12.9% | 12.2% | 12.3% | 12.6% | 12.8% |
| Operating margin | 3.1% | 3.2% | 3.2% | 3.1% | 3.3% | 3.4% | 3.4% | 3.4% | 3.6% | 3.8% |
| Net margin | 2.0% | 2.1% | 2.2% | 2.4% | 2.4% | 2.6% | 2.6% | 2.6% | 2.9% | 2.9% |
| Free cash flow margin | 0.5% | 3.3% | 2.0% | 2.2% | 3.6% | 2.7% | 1.5% | 2.8% | 2.6% | 2.9% |
| Return on invested capital | 20.7% | 22.4% | 26.3% | 28.9% | 30.8% | 36.1% | 38.2% | — | — | 37.9% |
| Return on equity | 20.7% | 23.4% | 26.6% | 26.1% | 23.9% | 27.9% | 30.6% | 27.5% | 30.3% | 30.7% |
| Return on assets | 7.1% | 7.7% | 8.1% | 8.5% | 7.9% | 8.7% | 9.5% | 9.4% | 10.6% | 11.0% |
| Net debt to EBITDA | 0.1x | 0.2x | −0.1x | −0.4x | −0.7x | −0.4x | −0.5x | — | −0.3x | −0.6x |
US$ billions unless stated. Where a later 10-K restated a year, the latest filed figure is shown. Download all figures (CSV, US$ millions)
Source: Costco's Form 10-K filings, from SEC EDGAR. For information only, not investment advice. The Filing Desk is not affiliated with Costco.