Costco Wholesale Corporation vs Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund — how do they compare? Costco Wholesale Corporation trades at $946.92 (market cap $420.05B), while Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund trades at $170.81 (market cap $43.48B). The key difference: Costco Wholesale Corporation is far larger — about 9.7× Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund's market cap, and Costco Wholesale Corporation pays a 0.62% dividend while Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund pays none. Which is the better fit depends on your goals — on Pluang, investors hold Costco Wholesale Corporation for 133 Days and Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund for 100 Days on average.
| COST | XLV | |
|---|---|---|
Market Cap | $420.05B | $43.48B |
Volume | 2,087,565 | 11,121,431 |
Sector | Consumer Staples | — |
52-Week High | $1.09K | $175.68 |
52-Week Low | $849.63 | $141.95 |
Typical Hold Time | 133 Days | 100 Days |
Enterprise Value | $407.33B | — |
Dividend Yield | 0.62% | — |
Signals from Pluang's Aura AI — not financial advice
Costco (COST) trades at $947.92, up 0.6% with strong technical momentum. The stock shows robust fundamentals with revenue growth from $275.24B in 2025 to projected $303.2B in 2026 and improving net margins. Recent March sales surged 11.3% year-over-year, while analyst consensus remains strongly bullish with 66% buy ratings and a $1,100 price target. Technical indicators show bullish moving averages but overbought RSI levels near resistance at $954.
Outlook remains positive given membership fee increases and expansion potential, though high valuation multiples (P/E 45.66) pose risk if growth slows. Key risks include competitive pressures and economic sensitivity. Institutional accumulation continues with multiple advisors increasing positions in Q4 2025, supporting the bullish thesis.
XLV trades at $168.16, down 0.39% on the day, with technical indicators showing a bearish bias as the ETF tests key support levels. The healthcare ETF maintains a competitive 0.08% expense ratio and offers diversified exposure to 60 S&P 500 healthcare stocks. Recent options activity shows increased put volume, suggesting some investor caution despite the sector's defensive characteristics.
The healthcare sector's defensive nature and potential Fed rate hike resilience provide stability, though technical weakness and political volatility around midterm elections present near-term risks. XLV's low-cost structure and broad diversification make it an efficient vehicle for healthcare exposure, but sector-specific headwinds like drug trial failures warrant monitoring.
Trailing returns across standard periods
What Pluang investors did over the last 30 days
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 →In seeking to track the performance of the index, the fund employs a replication strategy. It generally invests substantially all, but at least 95%, of its total assets in the securities comprising the index. The index includes companies from the following industries: pharmaceuticals; health care equipment & supplies; health care providers & services; biotechnology; life sciences tools & services; and health care technology. The fund is non-diversified.
Read more on XLV →