Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST) earnings on September 24, 2026

After the market closes Q2 2026

More Costco Wholesale Corporation earnings

Prior outlook: Pessimistic Outcome: Partial

Costco shares rose 2.93% today despite a $152 million charge related to memory inflation in its electronics business. The stock was volatile, falling as much as 1.49% before recovering to close higher.

COST price around the earnings

922.77

Change: +2.9%

2026-09-25, 20:00 UTC

Start of the measured window End of the measured window
885.18 898.27 911.37 924.46 896.48
Price series around the eventClosing price per minute from before the event to the end of the measured window.No trading (market closed)
September 24, 2026 September 25, 2026
  • Price: green if it ends above the starting price; red if it ends below
  • Start of the measured window
  • End of the measured window
  • Market open
  • No trading (market closed)
  • Starting price
Price series around the event

Prior thesis

Prior outlook: Pessimistic Outcome: Partial

Thesis published
Results released

Analyst targets are positive but the structure is negative

Analysts cite a price target about 19% above the current price and a Buy consensus. However, the technical structure showed significant weakness with the stock down nearly 7% over the past month while the broader market rose nearly of 5%, and this negative technical setup dominated the final outlook.

Context analyzed before publication

Summary
Analyst targets are positive but the structure is negative
Playbook
The stock is market review 17.5% below its 52-week high and near key support around $899, while underperforming the broader market by over 11% in relative strength. Historical earnings show the stock has gapped down after reporting in 7 of the last 8 quarters.
Trend
Expert sentiment shifted sharply from optimistic to pessimistic

Analysts

Drivers

  • Analysts Positive

    Analysts cite a price target averaging $1,069, about 19% above current levels, with 35 analyst opinions supporting a Buy consensus and expectations for earnings growth of 0.15 and revenue growth of 0.12. However, the scenario points pessimistic.

Evidence

Analyst consensus
Buy
Consensus average (1-5)
1.95
Analysts covering the stock
35
Average price target
1,069.2
Lowest price target
740
Highest price target
1,315
Upside to price target
19%
Quarterly earnings growth
15.2%
Revenue growth
11.6%
Forward EPS
22.62
Trailing EPS
19.9
Analyst moves in the last 60 days
6
  • Strong buy: 4
  • Buy: 20
  • Hold: 13
  • Sell: 1
  • Strong sell: 1
Strong buy
4
Buy
20
Hold
13
Sell
1
Strong sell
1
  • September 23, 2026 · BTIG: Reiterates rating (Buy → Buy)
  • September 16, 2026 · Oppenheimer: Reiterates rating (Outperform → Outperform)
  • September 16, 2026 · B of A Securities: Maintains rating (Buy → Buy)
  • September 8, 2026 · Freedom Broker: Upgrades rating (Hold → Buy)
  • September 3, 2026 · DA Davidson: Maintains rating (Neutral → Neutral)
  • September 3, 2026 · BTIG: Reiterates rating (Buy → Buy)

News and sentiment

Evidence

Sentiment
Sentiment
Constructive
Mention volume
High
Normalized volume
99%
Messages
30
News
Sources (7)

Technicals

Drivers

  • Technical Negative

    The stock is down nearly 7% over the past 30 days while the broader market (measured by QQQ) is up nearly 5%, with relative strength falling 11.86% and market review about 17.5% below its 52-week high near a reference support level around $900.

Evidence

Price when the context was analyzed
904.46
Average true range (ATR)
1.3%
Distance to 52-week high
-17.7%
14-day change (14d)
+0.3%
30-day change (30d)
-6.9%
30-day relative strength
-11.9%
QQQ change (30d)
+4.9%
Nearest support
899.71
Distance to nearest support
0.5%
Nearest resistance
905.21
Distance to nearest resistance
0.1%
Volume accumulation ratio (14d / 46d)
1.04
  • Mid: 899.71 (0.5% away, 0.42 ATR, 12 touches)
  • Mid: 895.43 (1% away, 0.79 ATR, 24 touches)
  • Major: 890.83 (1.5% away, 1.19 ATR, 23 touches)
  • Major: 905.21 (0.1% away, 0.06 ATR, 39 touches)
  • Mid: 908.6 (0.5% away, 0.36 ATR, 19 touches)
  • Major: 911.54 (0.8% away, 0.61 ATR, 29 touches)

Trends

Evidence

Average earnings surprise
+1.6%
  • May 28, 2026: actual EPS 4.93 vs estimate 4.97 (surprise -0.8%)
  • March 5, 2026: actual EPS 4.58 vs estimate 4.55 (surprise +0.7%)
  • December 11, 2025: actual EPS 4.5 vs estimate 4.27 (surprise +5.5%)
  • September 25, 2025: actual EPS 5.87 vs estimate 5.8 (surprise +1.1%)

Expected move

Drivers

  • Past earnings Negative

    The stock has dropped on earnings day in 7 of the last 8 quarters, with an average gap down of 0.9% and the stock closing lower on the day of the report in 6 of those 8 events.

Implied move
+4.0%
Source
Options chain

Reactions over its last 20 earnings

Median move
2%
75th percentile move
4%
90th percentile move
6.2%
Up / down moves
11 / 9
Average up move
+2.2%
Average down move
-3.4%

Monitoring and close

What Costco Wholesale Corporation reported

Status
Finished
Actual EPS6.75
EPS estimate6.52
EPS surprise+3.5%
Revenue$95,723 million
Revenue estimate$94,859 million
Revenue surprise+0.9%

Costco reported 11% sales growth with 19.5% digital gains. Used $184 million in tariff refunds to lower prices. Shares slipped after beating estimates; analysts note $0.15 per share was from tariff refunds.

Sources (50)

Pre-market second reading after the results

Verdict
Beat expectations

As market review begins, earnings and revenue both exceeded expectations and the price is showing -0.5% pre-market, a move below the stock's typical reaction (about 2%). The figures don't confirm the prior scenario: that move is too small to draw conclusions from.

How the stock reacted

Outcome
Partial
Consolidated
+2.9%
Max favorable move (MFE)
1.5%
Max adverse move (MAE)
3.2%