NEW YORK, May 18, 2026, 1:02 PM (EDT)
Costco Wholesale traded higher on Monday, up $16.03 to $1,064.98 by midday in New York. Shares touched $1,070.55 earlier. Investors kept buying into the warehouse retailer’s mix of food, fuel, and membership fees. Its price-earnings ratio was around 55.4.
Costco is holding up even as consumers pull back. The company said April net sales came in at $23.92 billion, up 13% from last year. Comparable sales increased 11.6%, and digital comparable sales jumped 18.8%.
Sentiment drops in May. The University of Michigan’s first May consumer sentiment reading came in at 48.2, down from 49.8 in April. Survey director Joanne Hsu said the drop came as people worry about high prices, covering things like gasoline and tariffs. Around a third of respondents mentioned gas, and about 30% brought up tariffs.
Costco execs are pushing back against cost pressure. “At Costco, we always want to be the first to lower prices and the last to raise them,” CFO Gary Millerchip told analysts in March. Millerchip said the company had reduced prices on eggs, cheese, coffee, paper products and some items affected by tariffs. The Motley Fool
Bank of America is sticking with its Buy rating and $1,185 price target on Costco after the April numbers, TheStreet reported. The firm called out Costco’s “comp consistency” through macro uncertainty, and put adjusted U.S. comps at 6.3% once the Easter shift was excluded. That trails March’s 7.7%, but looks better on a two-year stack. TheStreet
Costco isn’t the only story here. Bernstein’s Zhihan Ma upped price targets on both Costco and Walmart, but said retail could break down along income lines. Walmart (WMT) gained 75 cents to $132.20 on Monday. Target (TGT) added 25 cents, finishing at $121.79.
Costco is sending more cash back to investors. The company upped its quarterly dividend to $1.47 a share from $1.30 last month, making it $5.88 annualized. The dividend is set for payment on May 15 to shareholders of record as of May 1.
April wasn’t a straightforward month. Bank of America estimated that higher gas prices added about 320 basis points—3.2 percentage points—to overall comparable sales. The bank sees comparisons getting easier in May and June. If gas prices drop, or shopper numbers dip as budgets get squeezed, some of that sales boost could disappear.
Costco’s fiscal third-quarter report lands May 28, with numbers set for 1:15 p.m. Pacific and the call an hour later. Renewal rates, customer traffic, fuel performance, and digital sales growth are all on the radar for investors.
Costco is getting what it wants from the market right now — jittery consumers, big-ticket prices, and steady foot traffic that buyers seem fine to pay up for. The problem is the stock looks priced as if nothing can trip it up.
