Costco Wholesale Corporation vs United Microelectronics Corp — how do they compare? Costco Wholesale Corporation trades at $923.7 (market cap $408.78B), while United Microelectronics Corp trades at $24.46 (market cap $59.23B). The key difference: Costco Wholesale Corporation is far larger — about 6.9× United Microelectronics Corp's market cap, and United Microelectronics Corp pays the higher dividend (1.73%). Which is the better fit depends on your goals.
| COST | UMC | |
|---|---|---|
Market Cap | $408.78B | $59.23B |
Sector | Consumer Staples | Technology |
52-Week High | $1.09K | $28.02 |
52-Week Low | $849.63 | $6.58 |
Enterprise Value | $396.92B | $56.81B |
Dividend Yield | 0.64% | 1.73% |
Signals from Pluang's Aura AI — not financial advice
Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST) trades at $923.76, down 0.29% on the day, as technical indicators signal a bearish trend with the price near pivot point support. Fundamentally, the company shows consistent revenue growth, reaching $275.24B in 2025, and strong cash flow generation of $13.34B from operations, though valuation metrics like a P/E of 46.37 appear elevated. Recent news highlights a March sales surge of 11.3% year-over-year and the first membership fee increase in seven years, which analysts view positively for future profit growth.
The investment outlook balances strong business fundamentals against a high valuation and near-term technical weakness. Upside potential is supported by robust membership renewal rates, expanding margins, and a consensus price target of $1,120. Key risks include sensitivity to consumer spending, competitive pressures in retail, and the stock's premium valuation requiring sustained execution to justify further gains.
UMC trades at $23.46, down 3.62% over the past day, with a bearish technical signal despite recent earnings beats. The company reported Q1 2026 EPS of $0.20, exceeding expectations of $0.12, and announced a $0.41 dividend payable in August 2026. Revenue grew to $237.55 billion in 2025, though net income margin has declined from 32.1% in 2022 to 16.99% in 2025. Positive developments include mass production of silicon photonics ICs and a new 14nm eHV FinFET platform.
Outlook remains mixed with strong operational cash flow and technological advancements balanced against high valuation multiples and margin compression. Key risks include competitive pressures in semiconductor foundry markets and sensitivity to global economic cycles. Analyst consensus is cautious with 53.3% hold ratings, suggesting limited near-term upside despite solid fundamentals.
Trailing returns across standard periods
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 →Founded in 1980, United Microelectronics is the world's third-largest dedicated chip foundry, with 7% market share in 2021, according to Gartner, after TSMC and GlobalFoundries. UMC's headquarters are in Hsinchu, Taiwan, and it operates 12 fabs in Taiwan, Mainland China, Japan and Singapore, with additional sales offices in Europe, the U.S. and South Korea. UMC features a diverse customer base including Texas Instruments, MediaTek, Qualcomm, Broadcom, Xilinx and Realtek, supplying a wide range of products applied in communications, display, memory, automotive and more. UMC employs about 20,000 people.
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