Costco Wholesale (COST) Operating Expenses (2009 - 2026)
Costco Wholesale (COST) posted Operating Expenses of $8.39 billion for fiscal Q4 2026 (quarter ended Aug 30, 2026), up 7.9% from $7.78 billion a year earlier.
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Analysis
Costco Wholesale (COST) Operating Expenses (2009 - 2026) Analysis & Trends
For FY2026 (ended Aug 30, 2026), Costco Wholesale's Operating Expenses came in at $27.19 billion, up 8.9% from FY2025.
- Annual Operating Expenses has increased for 17 consecutive fiscal years, with a five-year compound annual growth rate of 8.0% (FY2021 to FY2026).
- In prior fiscal years, Costco Wholesale's Operating Expenses was $24.97 billion in FY2025 (+9.5%), $22.81 billion in FY2024 (+5.7%), $21.59 billion in FY2023 (+9.2%) and $19.78 billion in FY2022 (+6.7%).
- The fiscal Q4 2026 figure stands as the highest quarterly Operating Expenses in data going back to fiscal Q2 2009.
- On a year-over-year basis, Operating Expenses has increased in each of the last 64 quarters, with growth averaging 9.2% over the last eight quarters.
- Across the past five years, year-over-year growth in Operating Expenses ran from 1.8% in fiscal Q4 2024 to 15.0% in fiscal Q4 2023.
Peer Set
Peer Comparison
| # | Company | Market Cap | Enterprise Value | Gross Profit (Qtr) | Opex (Qtr) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Walmart | 994.65 Bn | 951.08 Bn | 49.13 Bn | 39.75 Bn |
| 2 | Costco Wholesale | 469.67 Bn | 392.95 Bn | 12.19 Bn | 8.39 Bn |
| 3 | Kroger | 40.94 Bn | 27.09 Bn | 7.86 Bn | 198.00 Mn |
| 4 | Sysco | 37.29 Bn | 29.21 Bn | 4.05 Bn | 3.33 Bn |
| 5 | Dollar General | 29.72 Bn | 24.39 Bn | 3.68 Bn | 2.91 Bn |
| 6 | Dollar Tree | 25.99 Bn | 22.61 Bn | 2.10 Bn | 1.43 Bn |
| 7 | Caseys General Stores | 25.59 Bn | 23.59 Bn | 1.24 Bn | 754.11 Mn |
| 8 | US Foods Holding | 23.41 Bn | 23.21 Bn | 1.90 Bn | 1.53 Bn |
| 9 | Tractor Supply | 19.13 Bn | 18.28 Bn | 1.42 Bn | 984.29 Mn |
| 10 | Performance Food | 17.28 Bn | 17.06 Bn | 2.19 Bn | 1.92 Bn |
Historic Data
Download Data
Historic Data
| Date | Value |
|---|---|
| Aug 30, 2026 | 8.39 Bn |
| May 10, 2026 | 6.19 Bn |
| Feb 15, 2026 | 6.27 Bn |
| Nov 23, 2025 | 6.33 Bn |
| Aug 31, 2025 | 7.78 Bn |
| May 11, 2025 | 5.68 Bn |
| Feb 16, 2025 | 5.66 Bn |
| Nov 24, 2024 | 5.85 Bn |
| Sep 1, 2024 | 7.07 Bn |
| May 12, 2024 | 5.15 Bn |
| Feb 18, 2024 | 5.24 Bn |
| Nov 26, 2023 | 5.36 Bn |
| Sep 3, 2023 | 6.94 Bn |
| May 7, 2023 | 4.79 Bn |
| Feb 12, 2023 | 4.94 Bn |
| Nov 20, 2022 | 4.92 Bn |
| Aug 28, 2022 | 6.04 Bn |
| May 8, 2022 | 4.45 Bn |
| Feb 13, 2022 | 4.58 Bn |
| Nov 21, 2021 | 4.72 Bn |
API Access
Costco Wholesale Operating Expenses API
Pull this series into your own models, spreadsheets and apps with the Business Quant
Historical Metrics API. The request below matches the chart above — change the
frequency, period or values and it follows. Swap YOUR_API_KEY for your own key.
https://data.businessquant.com/historic?slug=operating-expenses&ticker=COST&period=max&api_key=YOUR_API_KEYimport requests
url = "https://data.businessquant.com/historic"
params = {"slug": "operating-expenses", "ticker": "COST", "period": "max", "api_key": "YOUR_API_KEY"}
data = requests.get(url, params=params).json()const res = await fetch("https://data.businessquant.com/historic?slug=operating-expenses&ticker=COST&period=max&api_key=YOUR_API_KEY");
const data = await res.json();