Did Surging Digitally-Enabled Sales Just Shift Costco Wholesale's (COST) Expansion-Focused Investment Narrative?

• Costco Wholesale Corporation recently reported its September sales, with net sales reaching US$26.58 billion for the five weeks ended October 5, 2025, marking an 8% increase from the same period last year.
• An interesting insight is the company’s digital transformation, as it introduced a new "digitally-enabled" comparable sales metric, revealing online sales growth of more than 26% year over year.
• We'll explore how this surge in digitally-enabled sales may influence Costco's projected earnings and expansion-focused investment narrative.

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Costco Wholesale Investment Narrative Recap

To own shares in Costco Wholesale, an investor must believe in the company’s ability to sustain strong membership growth, efficient global expansion, and ongoing gains in digital and warehouse sales. The latest September sales data, with an 8% net sales rise to US$26.58 billion and a 26% surge in digitally-enabled sales, reinforces the importance of digital growth as a short-term catalyst; there is no indication the recent news undermines this growth engine or introduces material new risk right now. The largest challenges ahead remain margin pressures from rising labor and supply chain costs.

Of the recent announcements, Costco’s rollout of digitally-enabled comparable sales, now including all sales that begin on a digital device, is most relevant. This metric gives greater visibility into the strength of Costco's e-commerce capabilities, supporting the case that online momentum could serve as a key revenue driver amid accelerating digital adoption and competition.

However, with robust digital growth, rising labor and supply chain costs remain critical factors that could pressure profit margins...

Read the full narrative on Costco Wholesale (it's free!)

Costco Wholesale's narrative projects $329.0 billion revenue and $10.4 billion earnings by 2028. This requires 7.0% yearly revenue growth and a $2.6 billion earnings increase from $7.8 billion today.

Uncover how Costco Wholesale's forecasts yield a $1061 fair value, a 14% upside to its current price.

Exploring Other Perspectives

Fair value estimates from 34 members of the Simply Wall St Community range from US$489 to US$1,061 per share, reflecting broad differences in growth forecasts. Rising labor and supply chain costs continue to challenge profit margins, a risk that may shape both future outcomes and valuation views among market participants.

Explore 34 other fair value estimates on Costco Wholesale - why the stock might be worth 47% less than the current price!

Build Your Own Costco Wholesale Narrative

Disagree with existing narratives? Create your own in under 3 minutes - extraordinary investment returns rarely come from following the herd.

• A great starting point for your Costco Wholesale research is our analysis highlighting 2 key rewards and 1 important warning sign that could impact your investment decision.
• Our free Costco Wholesale research report provides a comprehensive fundamental analysis summarized in a single visual - the Snowflake - making it easy to evaluate Costco Wholesale's overall financial health at a glance.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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