Costco Wholesale Corporation · COST · FY2026 Q3 · Calendar Q2 2026

Costco Q3 FY26: Revenue Beat, EPS Miss as Record Gas Volumes Drive Growth

Costco's Q3 FY26 results reveal a company whose membership flywheel is accelerating -- record gasoline volumes, 9.6% executive membership growth lifting the total base to 82.9M, and AI-powered search delivering triple-digit traffic gains -- yet near-term margin pressure from transportation costs and gasoline dynamics produced a 1.4% EPS miss against a 1.0% revenue beat. The market reacted decisively, sending shares down 3.9% on 3.4x normal volume in the next session, with a further 1.0% drift lower. The core tension is between durable operational strength -- the membership moat, digital momentum, and warehouse expansion -- and the absence of forward guidance, which left investors to absorb cost headwinds without a management offset. With analyst consensus targets at $1,102 against a current price of $952, the market is pricing in continued growth but demanding evidence that margin…

Reported After market closeNASDAQConsumer Defensive $422.01B market cap
90quality score

Company context

Snapshot as of publication

Costco Wholesale Corporation, alongside its group entities, operates membership-based retail warehouses across a broad international scope, spanning the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Spain, France, Iceland, China, and Taiwan. These outlets provide customers with an extensive array of both well-known branded and proprietary private-label products. Their vast inventory includes household staples, shelf-stable groceries, confectionery, chilled and frozen items, alcoholic beverages, tobacco, and deli selections. Furthermore, the stores stock major appliances, consumer electronics, health and beauty aids, hardware, garden and patio furniture, sporting goods, vehicle tires, toys, seasonal merchandise, office supplies, automotive maintenance products, postage services, event tickets, apparel, small kitchen appliances, home furnishings, domestic textiles, kitchenware, custom-order kiosks, and fine jewelry.…

Earnings scorecard

Reported versus consensus
Reported EPS $4.93 Consensus $5
EPS surprise -1.4% Reported versus consensus
Reported revenue $70.53B Consensus $69.83B
Revenue surprise +1.0% Reported versus consensus

Market reaction

event-close to next-session close
Stock move -3.9% Event window
SPY move +0.2% Same window
Abnormal move -4.2% Stock minus SPY
Volume 3.4× Versus trailing sessions
Subsequent drift -1.0% Up to 20 sessions
COSTSPY benchmark

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Transcript intelligence

What changed

Revenue rose 11.6% to $70.5B, beating consensus of $69.8B by approximately 1.0%. EPS of $4.93 missed consensus of $5.00 by 1.4%, reflecting gas and transportation cost pressure on margins. Net income increased 15% year over year. Membership base grew to 82.9M with executive members up 9.6%, including a successful China executive rollout. Gas station volumes set all-time records -- the first five weeks were the top 5 volume weeks in Costco history. Same-day delivery averaged under 45 minutes; AI-enhanced product search drove triple-digit traffic growth with the highest conversion rate among all traffic sources. Stock fell 3.9% in the next session on 3.4x baseline volume, with a further 1.0% subsequent drift.

Guidance delta

Management did not provide explicit forward guidance this quarter. The company reaffirmed its capital plan of approximately $6.5 billion in CapEx and 30-plus net new warehouses annually, with an increasing CapEx outlook. The absence of formal guidance leaves investors to infer the trajectory from operational commentary alone.

Key takeaways

  • Revenue beat consensus by roughly 1.0% at $70.5B, driven by 11.6% net sales growth, but EPS of $4.93 missed the $5.00 consensus by 1.4% on margin pressure
  • Record gas station volumes -- the first five weeks of the quarter were the top 5 volume weeks ever -- reinforce the membership flywheel and member loyalty
  • Membership base grew to 82.9M with executive members up 9.6%, including a successful executive membership rollout in China
  • AI-enhanced product search delivered triple-digit traffic growth with the highest conversion rate of any traffic source, signaling digital momentum
  • Margins were stable ex-gas and SG&A improved modestly, but transportation and inflation pressures persist; CapEx projected at ~$6.5B for the year

Management priorities

  • Open 30+ net new warehouses annually and relocate high-volume clubs to larger sites
  • Continue rolling out digital enhancements: mobile wallet, digital membership card, shopping-cart prescan
  • Expand same-day delivery to additional international markets
  • Deepen AI integration for product pages and search
  • Scale retail media partnership with Google Commerce, Media, and YouTube

Related earnings events

Consumer Defensive
WMT · FY2027 Q1 · Calendar Q2 2026Walmart Q1 FY27: Sales Beat on eCommerce Strength, but Stock Sold Off 7%

Sources

  1. Earnings call transcript and parsed analysis · 2026-05-28T23:17:51.706514+00:00
  2. FN2 earnings calendar · 2026-07-26T00:37:12.209961+00:00
  3. Polygon adjusted daily market bars · 2026-07-28T07:52:36.916858+00:00
  4. Financial Modeling Prep analyst price-target consensus and quote snapshot · 2026-07-28T07:52:36.914195+00:00

Methodology

Reported and consensus figures come from FN2's earnings event records. Market reaction and volume are calculated from daily adjusted bars around the event; abnormal move subtracts the SPY move over the same window.

Transcript intelligence is a structured synthesis of the current and prior earnings-call analyses. Missing values stay missing and are never estimated.

By FN2 Research · Updated . For educational purposes only; not investment advice.