COST Stock Draws Price Target Hikes From Wall Street Post Earnings – A Look At What Keeps Wall Street Happy And A Bit Worried

• Truist flagged that Costco's one small weakness is its slowing membership growth, but noted that the ability to keep delivering steady mid-single digit comparable sales at a $300 billion annualized run rate continues to impress.
• Roth Capital noted that the company’s renewal rates stabilized at 89.7% worldwide and 92.2% in the U.S./Canada, but new member adds at over 800,000 were below the long-term average of 1.1 million. 
• BofA raised its price target on Costco to $1,200 from $1,185 and kept a ‘Buy’ rating on the stock.

Shares of Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST) drew investor attention on Friday after the warehouse retail giant delivered third-quarter results that prompted Wall Street concerns about moderating membership growth and decelerating traffic.

Wall Street's Take On COST

Truist raised its price target on Costco to $1,011 from $977 and maintained a ‘Hold’ rating on the stock, according to TheFly. The analyst flagged that Costco's one small weakness is its slowing membership growth. 

The firm also noted that Costco's ability to keep delivering steady mid-single digit comparable sales at a $300 billion annualized run rate continues to impress. 

Meanwhile, Roth Capital increased its price target to $781 from $769 but maintained a ‘Sell’ rating. The analyst noted that the company’s renewal rates stabilized at 89.7% worldwide and 92.2% in the U.S./Canada, but new member adds at over 800,000 were below the long-term average of 1.1 million. 

The firm noted that U.S. traffic growth slowed to 1.8% from 2.4% in the second quarter as ‘pressures continued.’

BofA raised its price target on Costco to $1,200 from $1,185 and maintained a ‘Buy’ rating on the stock following third-quarter results that were "largely in line with expectations." The firm maintained its FY26 earnings per share (EPS) estimate but raised its FY27 EPS view by $0.10, citing a slightly improved SG&A forecast.

According to Koyfin, of the 36 analysts, 22 recommend ‘Buy’ or higher, 19 had a ‘Hold’ rating on the stock, while two recommend ‘Sell’ or more.

Costco’s Q3 Earnings

The company reported third-quarter revenue of $69.15 billion, narrowly missing analysts’ estimates of $69.2 billion, while earnings of $4.9 per share were in line with Wall Street expectations, according to Fiscal.ai data.

Costco’s U.S. comparable sales, excluding gasoline, grew by 6.8% during the quarter.

What Retails Thinks About COST

The retail sentiment surrounding the stock has improved to ‘extremely bullish’ from ‘bullish’ while message volumes improved to ‘high’ from ‘normal’ over the past 24 hours. 

Costco shares have gained over 94% year-to-date.

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