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Costco (COST) Stock Moves -1.77%: What You Should Know

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Costco (COST - Free Report) closed at $241.27 in the latest trading session, marking a -1.77% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0% on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.05%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 0.21%.

Coming into today, shares of the warehouse club operator had gained 3.9% in the past month. In that same time, the Retail-Wholesale sector gained 6.48%, while the S&P 500 gained 5.49%.

Investors will be hoping for strength from COST as it approaches its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect COST to post earnings of $1.82 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 7.06%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $34.74 billion, up 7.34% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $7.91 per share and revenue of $152.40 billion, which would represent changes of +15.81% and +7.64%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for COST. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.57% higher. COST is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Investors should also note COST's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 31.04. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 20.88.

We can also see that COST currently has a PEG ratio of 3.48. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. The Retail - Discount Stores industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.97 as of yesterday's close.

The Retail - Discount Stores industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 97, which puts it in the top 39% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.


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