New York, May 19, 2026, 04:06 (EDT)
Costco Wholesale Corp. shares head into Tuesday after closing Monday up 2.62% at $1,076.47, their fifth straight gain, as the warehouse retailer outpaced Walmart and Target in a mixed U.S. market session. Trading volume was above its 50-day average, a sign that the move drew more than routine index buying.
The timing matters. The main Nasdaq session was still hours away; premarket trading starts at 4 a.m. ET and regular trading runs from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET. Tuesday is not on Nasdaq’s 2026 holiday list; the next listed U.S. market closure is Memorial Day on May 25.
Investors now have a short fuse into Costco’s next company event. The retailer has scheduled its fiscal third-quarter earnings call for May 28 at 2 p.m. Pacific time, giving the stock little room to drift without fresh numbers.
The near-term bull case rests on sales. Costco said April net sales rose 13.0% to $23.92 billion, while total comparable sales — sales from established locations and digital channels, used to strip out the effect of new stores — rose 11.6%. Excluding gasoline price swings and foreign exchange, total comparable sales rose 7.8%; digitally enabled sales rose 18.4% on the same adjusted basis.
Andrew Yoon, Costco’s director of financial planning and investor relations, said in a prerecorded sales message that “net sales for the month came in at $23.92 billion,” and noted that the Easter calendar shift gave April one extra shopping day compared with last year. Seeking Alpha
The stock is being priced as if that strength can last. Costco’s market value stands near $478.4 billion, and the shares trade at about 56 times trailing earnings — the stock price divided by per-share profit — a level that leaves less cushion if traffic, margins or membership trends disappoint.
That is the main risk. MarketScreener’s 36-analyst consensus showed an average target price of $1,072.91, slightly below Monday’s close, even though the high target was $1,315 and the low was $650. A price target is an analyst’s forecast for where a stock may trade over a set period; here, the spread shows investors are not all paying for the same Costco story.
Fuel is another wrinkle, not just a boost. Mizuho raised its Costco price target last month and pointed to strong fuel volumes, but also said low-margin gasoline revenue can weigh on blended gross margin, meaning the share of revenue left after merchandise costs. Costco itself has also flagged inflation, exchange rates, consumer spending, tariffs and geopolitical conditions among risks that could alter results.
For now, the market has given Costco credit for resilient demand before earnings. The harder part comes next: showing that April’s sales pace was not just helped by calendar timing, and that the company can defend growth while the stock already sits near the top of Wall Street’s average forecast.
