Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ: COST) continues to prove to investors that it’s worthy of their hard-earned savings. Share prices are already up 13% in 2026 (as of March 19). At the same time, the S&P 500 has lost 3.5% of its value.
This continues an impressive run for the warehouse-club retailer. If you’d invested $1,000 in this leading retail stock 10 years ago, here’s how much you’d have today.
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Costco has been a magnificent portfolio holding. Over the past decade, shares generated a total return of 659%. This phenomenal gain would’ve turned a $1,000 initial investment 10 years ago into $7,590 right now. Given the market’s love affair with technology and artificial intelligence (AI) stocks, the fact that a boring retailer can be such a winning investment is a breath of fresh air.
The company reported solid financial gains. Net sales and net income were up 137% and 241%, respectively, between fiscal 2015 and fiscal 2025 (ended Aug. 31, 2025).
Costco is an elite business when it comes to stability and predictability. It’s a safe holding due to its steady fundamentals in all economic scenarios.
The market certainly appreciates this. Costco stock’s current price-to-earnings ratio of 50.7 is 73% more expensive than it was exactly 10 years ago. It’s also well about the 10-year average P/E of 39. While the stock has done well, it’s also trading at a premium that isn’t favorable for new investors unless they are planning to hold the stock for the long term. A lot of growth is already priced into this stock.
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