Getty Images Costco ( COST ) has led the Consumer Staples surge so far this year. The Staples space is higher by 13% through Feb. 20, bettered only by a trio of cyclical-value areas. This defensive corner of the U.S. stock market is led by COST and Walmart ( WMT ). Together, they offer a nuanced view of the consumer and economic situation writ large. I assert that COST and WMT are not on the same ...
Getty Images Costco ( COST ) has led the Consumer Staples surge so far this year. The Staples space is higher by 13% through Feb. 20, bettered only by a trio of cyclical-value areas. This defensive corner of the U.S. stock market is led by COST and Walmart ( WMT ). Together, they offer a nuanced view of the consumer and economic situation writ large. I assert that COST and WMT are not on the same defensive level as, say, Procter & Gamble ( PG ) and Colgate-Palmolive ( CL ). The two big-box stores are not traditional safety plays. COST gears toward higher-end consumers with even a dash of non-staple spending, while WMT makes clear AI & technology inroads. The point? Soaring Staples is not a major market warning flag. But let’s center on COST. I had a "H old" rating on the wholesale club company back in July of 2025 . Shares are virtually unchanged since then, and I reiterate a "H old" rating today. The P/E ratio is in the mid-40s, right near its 5-year average, while the chart now shows congestion. Staples Strong YTD Seeking Alpha COST Trailing XLP & SPY YoY StockCharts.com S&P 500 Forward Non-GAAP P/E Heat Map: COST > 44x Finviz Back in December, COST reported a solid set of quarterly results. Q1 GAAP EPS of $4.50 topped the Wall Street consensus target of $4.28, while revenue of $67.1 billion, up 8% from the same period a year earlier, was a small $190 million beat. Comp store sales were +6.4% , but that was a sequential dip. Shares were unchanged by the end of the trading day on Dec. 11, which was an improvement from a 2.9% post-reporting fall in September. Looking ahead to the March 5 fiscal Q2 report, the options market prices in an average 3.7% earnings-related stock price swing when analyzing the at-the-money straddle expiring soonest after the report. Shares of the $437 billion market cap staples stock feature a somewhat low 26% implied volatility reading, with the next dividend ex-date slated for May 4. Looking back on the quarter that was, Costco delivered ...
Copper rose for a second day as uncertainty around US tariff policy and its impact on broader markets drove a decline in the dollar. Meanwhile gold & silver also traded higher over tariff uncertainty. The US Supreme Court ruled against President Donald Trump's use of emergency powers to set reciprocal trade duties, prompting the administration to roll out an alternative 15% global levy. Amy Gower,...
Copper rose for a second day as uncertainty around US tariff policy and its impact on broader markets drove a decline in the dollar. Meanwhile gold & silver also traded higher over tariff uncertainty. The US Supreme Court ruled against President Donald Trump's use of emergency powers to set reciprocal trade duties, prompting the administration to roll out an alternative 15% global levy. Amy Gower, Metals & Mining Commodities Strategist at Morgan Stanley spoke to Bloomberg’s Horizons Middle East and Africa anchor Joumanna Bercetche. (Source: Bloomberg)