Costco vs Dollar General
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The short version
- Costco is the larger business, with $303.2B of revenue in fiscal 2026 against $42.7B for Dollar General, about 7.1 times as much.
- Costco grew revenue faster (10.1%, against 5.2%).
- Dollar General kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (5.2% operating margin, against 3.9%).
- Dollar General turned more of its sales into free cash flow (5.6% FCF margin, against 3.1%).
- Costco earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (40.7%, against 13.8%).
| Latest fiscal year | COST · FY26 | DG · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $445.9B | $29.4B |
| Revenue | $303.2B | $42.7B |
| Free cash flow | $9.4B | $2.4B |
| Net income | $9.2B | $1.5B |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 10.1% | 5.2% |
| 5-year growth | 9.1% | 4.8% |
| Share count change | −0.1% | 0.4% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 12.8% | 30.7% |
| Operating margin | 3.9% | 5.2% |
| Net margin | 3.0% | 3.5% |
| FCF margin | 3.1% | 5.6% |
| Return on capital | 40.7% | 13.8% |
| Return on equity | 28.4% | 19.0% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | −$13.7B | $3.4B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | −1.0x | 1.1x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $3.3B | $520M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | — | 17.3x |
| Piotroski F-score | 7 | 7 |
Revenue
FY17
COST $129.0B
DG $23.5B
FY18
COST $141.6B
DG $25.6B
FY19
COST $152.7B
DG $27.8B
FY20
COST $166.8B
DG $33.7B
FY21
COST $195.9B
DG $34.2B
FY22
COST $227.0B
DG $37.8B
FY23
COST $242.3B
DG $38.7B
FY24
COST $254.5B
DG $40.6B
FY25
COST $275.2B
DG $42.7B
FY26
COST $303.2B
DG —
COST
DG
Operating margin
FY17
COST 3.2%
DG 8.6%
FY18
COST 3.2%
DG 8.3%
FY19
COST 3.1%
DG 8.3%
FY20
COST 3.3%
DG 10.5%
FY21
COST 3.4%
DG 9.4%
FY22
COST 3.4%
DG 8.8%
FY23
COST 3.4%
DG 6.3%
FY24
COST 3.7%
DG 4.2%
FY25
COST 3.8%
DG 5.2%
FY26
COST 3.9%
DG —
COST
DG
Free cash flow
FY17
COST $4.2B
DG $1.2B
FY18
COST $2.8B
DG $1.4B
FY19
COST $3.4B
DG $1.5B
FY20
COST $6.1B
DG $2.8B
FY21
COST $5.4B
DG $1.8B
FY22
COST $3.5B
DG $424M
FY23
COST $6.7B
DG $692M
FY24
COST $6.6B
DG $1.7B
FY25
COST $7.8B
DG $2.4B
FY26
COST $9.4B
DG —
COST
DG
Return on capital
FY17
COST 22.4%
DG 18.7%
FY18
COST 26.3%
DG 18.6%
FY19
COST 28.9%
DG 19.4%
FY20
COST 30.8%
DG 29.5%
FY21
COST 36.1%
DG 25.9%
FY22
COST 38.2%
DG 23.2%
FY23
COST 37.0%
DG 15.1%
FY24
COST 38.9%
DG 10.3%
FY25
COST 37.9%
DG 13.8%
FY26
COST 40.7%
DG —
COST
DG
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.