ACI vs CASY vs COST Stock Comparison

Albertsons Companies, Caseys General Stores and Costco Wholesale Prices as of Oct 23, 2026 Peers: Industry group
CASY Caseys General Stores Inc
$699.26 +17.1% 1M +31.2% 1Y
Market cap
$26.00B
P/E
33.6x
Revenue (TTM)
$18.67B
Div. yield
–
Convenience Stores Consumer Staples
7 wins
COST Costco Wholesale Corp /New
$1,003.32 +10.9% 1M +6.5% 1Y
Market cap
$446.27B
P/E
48.4x
Revenue (TTM)
$303.15B
Div. yield
–
Warehouse Clubs Consumer Staples
4 wins

Head to Head

11 decided of 12

Caseys General Stores leads on 7 of the 12 questions below (Caseys General Stores 7, Costco Wholesale 4). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionACICASYCOSTLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $6.78B $26.00B $446.27B COST
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 208.6x 33.6x 48.4x CASY
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS — 33.8x 47.2x CASY
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months -5.1% +13.8% +10.1% CASY
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 0.0% 4.1% 3.0% CASY
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 4.2% 18.5% 21.7% COST
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA — 0.9x -1.1x COST
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months -27.3% +31.2% +6.5% CASY
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years -14.7%/yr +29.5%/yr +15.8%/yr CASY
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 39.5% 36.9% 20.0% COST
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 36/100 58/100 51/100 CASY

Percentile Scorecard

ACICASYCOST

Each axis is the mean percentile of its metrics against the company's industry group. 100 is the best in the group, 50 the middle.

Scores by Axis

AxisACICASYCOST
Valuation 62 #16 of 40 21 #32 of 40 8 #37 of 40
Growth 3 #37 of 38 87 #6 of 38 78 #9 of 38
Profitability 22 #29 of 37 83 #7 of 37 72 #11 of 37
Financial Health 3 #39 of 40 69 #13 of 40 85 #7 of 40
Shareholder Returns 93 #3 of 28 30 #20 of 28 11 #25 of 28
Overall 36 58 51
  • ACI ranked among 41 companies in Staples Retail
  • CASY ranked among 41 companies in Staples Retail
  • COST ranked among 41 companies in Staples Retail

Price Performance

Price return, split-adjusted, before dividends. Click a name to hide or show it.

Returns

PeriodACICASYCOSTSPY
1 month +19.3%+17.1%+10.9% -1.0%
3 months +26.7%-18.8%+7.3% +2.9%
6 months -16.0%-12.5%-0.8% +6.4%
Year to date -18.7%+26.5%+16.3% +11.4%
1 year -27.3%+31.2%+6.5% +13.1%
3 years -35.9%+162.9%+81.8% +79.4%
3 years, per year -13.8%+38.0%+22.1% +21.5%
5 years -54.7%+264.4%+108.2% +67.7%
5 years, per year -14.7%+29.5%+15.8% +10.9%
10 years —+509.9%+573.5% +255.2%
10 years, per year —+19.8%+21.0% +13.5%

Risk

MeasureACICASYCOSTSPY
Volatility, 1Y 39.5%36.9%20.0% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 45.3%35.1%19.6% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y -0.24-0.13-0.20 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y -0.690.850.33 1.03
Max drawdown, 5Y -70.1%-36.2%-31.5% -25.4%
From 52-week high -27.3%-23.7%-8.3% -2.5%
52-week high $19.21$916.28$1,094.32 $779.14
52-week low $11.02$513.19$850.00 $631.97

Valuation History

Weekly multiples on trailing twelve-month fundamentals. Negative or extreme readings (a loss year, a collapsed denominator) are left out so the chart stays readable.

MultipleACICASYCOST
P/E now vs peer median 208.1xmedian 21.6x 33.4xmedian 21.6x 48.3xmedian 21.6x
P/S now vs peer median 0.1xmedian 0.5x 1.4xmedian 0.5x 1.5xmedian 0.5x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median —median 9.7x 13.8xmedian 9.7x 29.9xmedian 9.7x
P/FCF now vs peer median 11.3xmedian 17.8x 39.8xmedian 17.8x 47.4xmedian 17.8x
P/B now vs peer median 4.6xmedian 3.0x 6.3xmedian 3.0x 12.4xmedian 3.0x
PEG now vs peer median -2.99median 1.06 1.76median 1.06 3.55median 1.06

Financial History

Reported figures by fiscal period, placed on the calendar year (or quarter) each period ended in, so companies with different fiscal years line up.

Trailing twelve monthsACICASYCOST
Revenue $77.19B $18.67B $303.15B
Gross profit $20.93B $4.45B $38.88B
Operating income $452.80M $1.55B $11.69B
Net income $32.50M $772.81M $9.23B
Free cash flow – $648.93M $9.38B
EPS (diluted) $0.07 $20.81 $20.76
Cash & equivalents $282.00M $524.06M $20.21B
Total debt $35.41B $9.79B $23.19B
Shares (diluted) 488.20M 37.14M 444.43M
Enterprise value $5.83B $24.00B $369.55B

All Metrics

58 metrics · best in bold

Bold marks the best reading: the lowest positive value for multiples, leverage and payout, the highest for everything else. The bar under each value is its percentile against that company's own peers. Hover a value for its rank and the peer median.

Valuation

12 metrics
MetricACICASYCOST
P/E 208.1x 33.4x 48.3x
P/FCF 11.3x 39.8x 47.4x
P/Operating cash flow – 18.6x 28.1x
P/S 0.1x 1.4x 1.5x
P/B 4.6x 6.3x 12.4x
P/Tangible book -11.1x 6.3x 12.4x
EV/EBITDA – 13.8x 29.9x
EV/EBIT 34.5x 17.9x 36.8x
EV/Revenue 0.2x 1.5x 1.4x
EV/FCF – 42.8x 45.8x
EV/Operating cash flow – 20.0x 27.2x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) -2.99 1.76 3.55

Growth

14 metrics
MetricACICASYCOST
Revenue growth (1Y) -5.1% 13.8% 10.1%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) -0.7% 8.8% 7.8%
Gross profit growth (1Y) -5.9% 13.8% 10.0%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) -1.5% 12.6% 9.4%
Operating income growth (1Y) -70.6% 22.5% 12.5%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) -40.0% 16.8% 12.9%
Net income growth (1Y) -96.7% 32.9% 13.9%
Net income CAGR (3Y) -71.3% 18.6% 13.6%
EPS growth (1Y) -96.2% 33.6% 14.0%
EPS CAGR (3Y) -69.5% 19.0% 13.6%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) – 17.5% 18.6%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) – 18.5% 12.6%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) – -2.6% 19.7%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) – 20.4% 11.6%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricACICASYCOST
Gross margin 27.1% 23.8% 12.8%
EBITDA margin – 10.8% 4.7%
Operating margin 0.6% 8.3% 3.9%
Pretax margin 0.0% 5.4% 4.0%
Net margin 0.0% 4.1% 3.0%
FCF margin – 3.5% 3.1%
Operating cash flow margin – 7.4% 5.2%
Return on equity 2.0% 19.2% 26.6%
Return on assets 0.1% 8.6% 10.5%
Return on invested capital 4.2% 18.5% 21.7%
Return on capital employed 2.5% 20.3% 26.7%
Asset turnover 2.9x 2.1x 3.5x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) – 1.8x 1.7x
Stock comp / revenue – 0.3% 0.3%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricACICASYCOST
Debt / assets 34.3% 26.6% 6.9%
Debt / equity 6.5x 0.6x 0.2x
Net debt / EBITDA – 0.9x -1.1x
Debt / FCF – 3.7x 0.7x
Liabilities / assets 94.7% 55.1% 59.8%
Equity / assets 5.3% 44.9% 40.2%
Interest coverage – 16.9x 80.6x
Current ratio 0.8x 1.0x 1.1x
Quick ratio 0.2x 0.6x 0.6x
Cash ratio 0.0x 0.4x 0.5x
Altman Z-score 3.04 6.33 9.33

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricACICASYCOST
Dividend yield 5.8% 0.3% 0.6%
Net buyback yield – 0.8% 0.2%
Shareholder yield 5.8% 1.2% 0.7%
Payout ratio (earnings) – – –
Payout ratio (FCF) – – –
Dividend growth (1Y) – – –
Dividend CAGR (3Y) – – –

Analyst Estimates

Solid lines are reported fiscal-year results; dashed lines are the consensus for the years ahead. Hover a year for the analysts' high and low, and how each result compared with its estimate.

ConsensusACICASYCOST
Forward P/E – 33.8xFY2026 47.2xFY2027
EPS, next fiscal year – $20.68FY2026 $21.24FY2027
EPS growth, next FY – +7.9%FY2026 +2.3%FY2027
EPS growth, the year after – +16.7% +22.4%
Revenue, next fiscal year – $20.14BFY2026 $345.31BFY2027
Revenue growth, next FY – +14.7%FY2026 +13.9%FY2027
Revenue growth, the year after – -0.8% -4.5%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersACICASYCOST
Held by institutions 93.5% 88.9% 73.2%
Institutions holding 447 1,081 4,208
Change in shares held, QoQ +1.7% +3.8% +5.0%
Institutions buying 234 554 1,920
Institutions selling 163 385 1,704
Buyers to sellers 1.44 1.44 1.13

Return Correlation

Daily returns, last 12 months

1.00 means two stocks move in lockstep, 0 that they move independently. Pairs below about 0.5 diversify each other.

ACICASYCOST
ACI 1.00 0.06 0.33
CASY 0.06 1.00 0.31
COST 0.33 0.31 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, ACI, CASY and COST?

Costco Wholesale (COST) is the largest by market capitalisation: Albertsons Companies (ACI) $6.78B, Caseys General Stores (CASY) $26.00B, Costco Wholesale (COST) $446.27B.

Which stock is cheaper, ACI, CASY and COST?

Caseys General Stores (CASY) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Albertsons Companies (ACI) 208.6x, Caseys General Stores (CASY) 33.6x, Costco Wholesale (COST) 48.4x). On next year's consensus earnings, Caseys General Stores (CASY) is cheapest (Caseys General Stores (CASY) 33.8x, Costco Wholesale (COST) 47.2x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Caseys General Stores (CASY) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Albertsons Companies (ACI) -5.1%, Caseys General Stores (CASY) +13.8%, Costco Wholesale (COST) +10.1%.

Which company is more profitable?

Caseys General Stores (CASY) has the highest net margin (Albertsons Companies (ACI) 0.0%, Caseys General Stores (CASY) 4.1%, Costco Wholesale (COST) 3.0%). On return on invested capital, Costco Wholesale (COST) leads (Albertsons Companies (ACI) 4.2%, Caseys General Stores (CASY) 18.5%, Costco Wholesale (COST) 21.7%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Caseys General Stores (CASY) returned the most: Albertsons Companies (ACI) -27.3%, Caseys General Stores (CASY) +31.2%, Costco Wholesale (COST) +6.5%. Over five years, Caseys General Stores (CASY) compounded fastest (Albertsons Companies (ACI) -14.7%/yr, Caseys General Stores (CASY) +29.5%/yr, Costco Wholesale (COST) +15.8%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Costco Wholesale (COST) has been the steadiest (Albertsons Companies (ACI) 39.5%, Caseys General Stores (CASY) 36.9%, Costco Wholesale (COST) 20.0%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, ACI, CASY and COST?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Caseys General Stores (CASY) leads on 7. Business Quant does not give investment advice; use the comparison as a starting point for your own research.

Data from SEC filings, exchange prices and consensus estimates, via Business Quant. Percentile scores compare each company with its own peer group, so two companies' scores are each relative to different peers unless you rank against the whole market. Price returns exclude dividends. Nothing on this page is investment advice.