Costco Wholesale Corporation vs CarMax, Inc — how do they compare? Costco Wholesale Corporation trades at $946.4 (market cap $420.05B), while CarMax, Inc trades at $52.72 (market cap $7.64B). The key difference: Costco Wholesale Corporation is far larger — about 55× CarMax, Inc's market cap, and Costco Wholesale Corporation pays a 0.62% dividend while CarMax, Inc pays none. Which is the better fit depends on your goals — on Pluang, investors hold Costco Wholesale Corporation for 133 Days and CarMax, Inc for 49 Days on average.
| COST | KMX | |
|---|---|---|
Market Cap | $420.05B | $7.64B |
Volume | 2,087,565 | 3,610,116 |
Sector | Consumer Staples | Consumer Cyclical |
52-Week High | $1.09K | $64.22 |
52-Week Low | $849.63 | $30.88 |
Typical Hold Time | 133 Days | 49 Days |
Enterprise Value | $407.33B | $25.34B |
Dividend Yield | 0.62% | — |
Signals from Pluang's Aura AI — not financial advice
COST trades at $946.92, up 0.5% today, near its pivot point of $947. The stock shows a bullish technical trend with strong moving averages, though oscillators indicate overbought conditions. Fundamentally, revenue grew to $275.24B in 2025 with a net income margin of 3.04%, while the P/E ratio of 45.66 reflects a premium valuation. Recent news highlights strong March sales growth of 11.3% year-over-year and a membership fee increase, signaling pricing power.
The outlook remains positive with analyst consensus strongly favoring Buy (66.1%) and a price target of $1,100, implying ~16% upside. Key risks include high valuation sensitivity and competitive pressures. Earnings growth and membership renewal rates are critical catalysts for sustained appreciation, but any miss could trigger a pullback.
CarMax (KMX) trades at $52.61, down 1.26% amid bearish technical signals despite recent earnings beats. The stock shows mixed fundamentals with a P/E of 25.37 and net margin of 1.06%, while revenue trends downward from $31.9B in 2022 to $26.4B in 2025. Recent Q2 2026 earnings of $1.16 per share beat expectations by 58%, driven by 19.5% revenue growth and improved unit sales under the 'Shift into GEAR' strategy.
The outlook remains cautious with analyst consensus at Hold (62%) and $58.89 price target suggesting 12% upside. Key risks include declining profit margins, high debt load ($18.14B long-term), and competitive pressures. Positive catalysts include continued execution of turnaround strategy and November 3 strategic update.
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Latest headlines on both assets
The leading warehouse club, Costco has 815 stores worldwide (at the end of fiscal 2021), with most sales derived in the United States (72%) and Canada (14%). It sells memberships that allow customers to shop in its warehouses, which feature low prices on a limited product assortment. Costco mainly caters to individual shoppers, but roughly 20% of paid members carry business memberships. Food and sundries accounted for 40% of fiscal 2021 sales, with non-food merchandise 29%, warehouse ancillary and other businesses (such as fuel and pharmacy) nearly 17%, and fresh food 14%. Costco's warehouses average around 146,000 square feet
Read more on COST →CarMax sells, finances, and services used and new cars through a chain of over 230 used retail stores. It was formed in 1993 as a unit of Circuit City and spun off into an independent company in late 2002. Used-vehicle sales typically account for about 83% of revenue and wholesale about 13%, with the remaining portion composed of extended service plans and repair. In fiscal 2022, the company retailed and wholesaled 924,338 and 706,212 used vehicles, respectively. CarMax is the largest used-vehicle retailer in the U.S. but still estimates that it has only about 4% U.S. market share of vehicles 0-10 years old in 2021. It seeks over 5% share by the end of calendar 2025 and revenue between $33 billion to $45 billion by fiscal 2026. CarMax is based in Richmond, Virginia.
Read more on KMX →