COST vs DAL Stock Comparison

Costco Wholesale and Delta Air Lines Prices as of Oct 27, 2026 Peers: Industry group
DAL Delta Air Lines, Inc.
$81.46 -4.1% 1M +34.8% 1Y
Market cap
$53.07B
P/E
16.1x
Revenue (TTM)
$71.80B
Div. yield
–
Airlines Industrials
6 wins

Head to Head

11 decided of 12

Delta Air Lines leads on 6 of the 12 questions below (Delta Air Lines 6, Costco Wholesale 5). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionCOSTDALLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $438.20B $53.07B COST
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 47.5x 16.1x DAL
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 46.8x 15.8x DAL
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +10.1% +14.1% DAL
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 3.0% 4.6% DAL
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 21.7% 10.8% COST
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA -1.1x 1.3x COST
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.00% 0.00% –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months +6.7% +34.8% DAL
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years +15.1%/yr +15.8%/yr DAL
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 20.0% 38.6% COST
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 51/100 38/100 COST

Percentile Scorecard

COSTDAL

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

AxisCOSTDAL
Valuation 8 #37 of 40 64 #50 of 136
Growth 78 #9 of 38 47 #65 of 121
Profitability 74 #10 of 36 47 #62 of 115
Financial Health 85 #7 of 40 23 #110 of 143
Shareholder Returns 11 #25 of 28 7 #76 of 82
Overall 51 38
  • COST ranked among 41 companies in Staples Retail
  • DAL ranked among 150 companies in Transportation

Price Performance

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

Returns

PeriodCOSTDALSPY
1 month +7.5%-4.1% -0.2%
3 months +2.6%-8.9% +3.9%
6 months -0.2%+21.2% +8.2%
Year to date +15.1%+17.4% +12.9%
1 year +6.7%+34.8% +12.3%
3 years +82.7%+165.8% +87.4%
3 years, per year +22.3%+38.5% +23.3%
5 years +102.3%+108.1% +67.9%
5 years, per year +15.1%+15.8% +10.9%
10 years +557.6%+96.4% +261.1%
10 years, per year +20.7%+7.0% +13.7%

Risk

MeasureCOSTDALSPY
Volatility, 1Y 20.0%38.6% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 19.7%34.3% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y -0.191.73 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y 0.340.90 0.97
Max drawdown, 5Y -31.5%-48.0% -25.4%
From 52-week high -9.3%-13.0% -1.2%
52-week high $1,094.32$93.66 $779.14
52-week low $850.00$55.65 $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.

MultipleCOSTDAL
P/E now vs peer median 47.7xmedian 22.1x 16.2xmedian 16.3x
P/S now vs peer median 1.5xmedian 0.5x 0.7xmedian 1.0x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 29.6xmedian 9.7x 8.1xmedian 8.7x
P/FCF now vs peer median 46.9xmedian 17.5x 17.7xmedian 11.4x
P/B now vs peer median 12.3xmedian 2.9x 2.4xmedian 1.2x
PEG now vs peer median 3.51median 1.19 -8.74median 0.82

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 monthsCOSTDAL
Revenue $303.15B $71.80B
Gross profit $38.88B –
Operating income $11.69B $5.29B
Net income $9.23B $3.29B
Free cash flow $9.38B $3.02B
EPS (diluted) $20.76 $4.99
Cash & equivalents $20.21B $3.79B
Total debt $6.16B $13.95B
Shares (diluted) 444.43M 659.00M
Enterprise value $361.48B $35.26B

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
MetricCOSTDAL
P/E 47.7x 16.2x
P/FCF 46.9x 17.7x
P/Operating cash flow 27.8x 6.7x
P/S 1.5x 0.7x
P/B 12.3x 2.4x
P/Tangible book 12.3x 3.2x
EV/EBITDA 29.6x 8.1x
EV/EBIT 36.3x 12.1x
EV/Revenue 1.4x 0.9x
EV/FCF 45.3x 21.1x
EV/Operating cash flow 26.8x 8.0x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 3.51 -8.74

Growth

14 metrics
MetricCOSTDAL
Revenue growth (1Y) 10.1% 14.1%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 7.8% 7.8%
Gross profit growth (1Y) 10.0% –
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) 9.4% –
Operating income growth (1Y) 12.5% -12.9%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) 12.9% -2.3%
Net income growth (1Y) 13.9% -28.9%
Net income CAGR (3Y) 13.6% -1.1%
EPS growth (1Y) 14.0% -29.5%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 13.6% -1.9%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 18.6% 0.3%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 12.6% 4.0%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) 19.7% -1.7%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) 11.6% 36.6%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricCOSTDAL
Gross margin 12.8% –
EBITDA margin 4.7% 11.0%
Operating margin 3.9% 7.4%
Pretax margin 4.0% 6.1%
Net margin 3.0% 4.6%
FCF margin 3.1% 4.2%
Operating cash flow margin 5.2% 11.1%
Return on equity 26.6% 14.8%
Return on assets 10.5% 3.8%
Return on invested capital 21.7% 10.8%
Return on capital employed 26.7% 10.0%
Asset turnover 3.5x 0.8x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 1.7x 2.4x
Stock comp / revenue 0.3% –

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricCOSTDAL
Debt / assets 6.9% 16.2%
Debt / equity 0.2x 0.6x
Net debt / EBITDA -1.1x 1.3x
Debt / FCF 0.7x 4.6x
Liabilities / assets 59.8% 73.8%
Equity / assets 40.2% 26.2%
Interest coverage 80.6x –
Current ratio 1.1x 0.4x
Quick ratio 0.6x 0.2x
Cash ratio 0.5x 0.1x
Altman Z-score 9.28 1.51

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricCOSTDAL
Dividend yield 0.6% 1.0%
Net buyback yield 0.2% –
Shareholder yield 0.8% 1.0%
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.

ConsensusCOSTDAL
Forward P/E 46.8xFY2027 15.8xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $21.22FY2027 $5.14FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +2.2%FY2027 -11.7%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +22.4% +40.7%
Revenue, next fiscal year $345.44BFY2027 $71.03BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +14.0%FY2027 +21.9%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after -4.4% -4.2%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersCOSTDAL
Held by institutions 73.2% 88.2%
Institutions holding 4,210 1,512
Change in shares held, QoQ +5.0% +0.6%
Institutions buying 1,921 816
Institutions selling 1,705 483
Buyers to sellers 1.13 1.69

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.

COSTDAL
COST 1.00 -0.07
DAL -0.07 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, COST and DAL?

Costco Wholesale (COST) is the largest by market capitalisation: Costco Wholesale (COST) $438.20B, Delta Air Lines (DAL) $53.07B.

Which stock is cheaper, COST and DAL?

Delta Air Lines (DAL) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Costco Wholesale (COST) 47.5x, Delta Air Lines (DAL) 16.1x). On next year's consensus earnings, Delta Air Lines (DAL) is cheapest (Costco Wholesale (COST) 46.8x, Delta Air Lines (DAL) 15.8x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Delta Air Lines (DAL) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Costco Wholesale (COST) +10.1%, Delta Air Lines (DAL) +14.1%.

Which company is more profitable?

Delta Air Lines (DAL) has the highest net margin (Costco Wholesale (COST) 3.0%, Delta Air Lines (DAL) 4.6%). On return on invested capital, Costco Wholesale (COST) leads (Costco Wholesale (COST) 21.7%, Delta Air Lines (DAL) 10.8%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Delta Air Lines (DAL) returned the most: Costco Wholesale (COST) +6.7%, Delta Air Lines (DAL) +34.8%. Over five years, Delta Air Lines (DAL) compounded fastest (Costco Wholesale (COST) +15.1%/yr, Delta Air Lines (DAL) +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 (Costco Wholesale (COST) 20.0%, Delta Air Lines (DAL) 38.6%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Do COST and DAL move together?

Their daily returns over the past year have a correlation of -0.07, a negative relationship. Holding both diversifies more than two closely linked stocks would.

Which is the better stock, COST and DAL?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Delta Air Lines (DAL) leads on 6. 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.