Amazon vs Costco
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The short version
- Amazon is the larger business, with $716.9B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $303.2B for Costco, about 2.4 times as much.
- Amazon grew revenue faster (12.4%, against 10.1%).
- Amazon kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (11.2% operating margin, against 3.9%).
- Costco turned more of its sales into free cash flow (3.1% FCF margin, against 1.1%).
- Costco earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (40.7%, against 20.6%).
| Latest fiscal year | AMZN · FY25 | COST · FY26 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $2.70T | $445.9B |
| Revenue | $716.9B | $303.2B |
| Free cash flow | $7.7B | $9.4B |
| Net income | $77.7B | $9.2B |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 12.4% | 10.1% |
| 5-year growth | 13.2% | 9.1% |
| Share count change | 1.0% | −0.1% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 50.3% | 12.8% |
| Operating margin | 11.2% | 3.9% |
| Net margin | 10.8% | 3.0% |
| FCF margin | 1.1% | 3.1% |
| Return on capital | 20.6% | 40.7% |
| Return on equity | 22.3% | 28.4% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | −$41.5B | −$13.7B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | −0.3x | −1.0x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $0.0M | $3.3B |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 20.0x | — |
| Piotroski F-score | 6 | 7 |
Revenue
FY17
AMZN $177.9B
COST $129.0B
FY18
AMZN $232.9B
COST $141.6B
FY19
AMZN $280.5B
COST $152.7B
FY20
AMZN $386.1B
COST $166.8B
FY21
AMZN $469.8B
COST $195.9B
FY22
AMZN $514.0B
COST $227.0B
FY23
AMZN $574.8B
COST $242.3B
FY24
AMZN $638.0B
COST $254.5B
FY25
AMZN $716.9B
COST $275.2B
FY26
AMZN —
COST $303.2B
AMZN
COST
Operating margin
FY17
AMZN 2.3%
COST 3.2%
FY18
AMZN 5.3%
COST 3.2%
FY19
AMZN 5.2%
COST 3.1%
FY20
AMZN 5.9%
COST 3.3%
FY21
AMZN 5.3%
COST 3.4%
FY22
AMZN 2.4%
COST 3.4%
FY23
AMZN 6.4%
COST 3.4%
FY24
AMZN 10.8%
COST 3.7%
FY25
AMZN 11.2%
COST 3.8%
FY26
AMZN —
COST 3.9%
AMZN
COST
Free cash flow
FY17
AMZN $6.4B
COST $4.2B
FY18
AMZN $17.3B
COST $2.8B
FY19
AMZN $21.7B
COST $3.4B
FY20
AMZN $25.9B
COST $6.1B
FY21
AMZN −$14.7B
COST $5.4B
FY22
AMZN −$16.9B
COST $3.5B
FY23
AMZN $32.2B
COST $6.7B
FY24
AMZN $32.9B
COST $6.6B
FY25
AMZN $7.7B
COST $7.8B
FY26
AMZN —
COST $9.4B
AMZN
COST
Return on capital
FY17
AMZN 27.5%
COST 22.4%
FY18
AMZN 45.4%
COST 26.3%
FY19
AMZN 28.0%
COST 28.9%
FY20
AMZN 31.2%
COST 30.8%
FY21
AMZN 23.3%
COST 36.1%
FY22
AMZN 6.9%
COST 38.2%
FY23
AMZN 16.7%
COST 37.0%
FY24
AMZN 26.5%
COST 38.9%
FY25
AMZN 20.6%
COST 37.9%
FY26
AMZN —
COST 40.7%
AMZN
COST
Each company's latest fiscal year; fiscal years end in different months. The best value in each row is highlighted where higher (or lower) is clearly better. Not investment advice.