What is Costco Wholesale's free cash flow margin?

Costco Wholesale (COST) reported free cash flow margin of 3.8% in Q1 2021.

What does free cash flow margin mean?

How much real, spendable cash each sales dollar generates after reinvestment.

How do you interpret free cash flow margin?

A high and rising FCF margin is the hallmark of a cash-generative business. Persistent gaps between net margin and FCF margin warrant a look at working capital or capital intensity.

How does free cash flow margin compare across companies?

Strong cross-company quality signal; capital-light compounders post structurally higher FCF margins than asset-heavy peers.

Costco Wholesale COST Free cash flow margin

Discontinued — last reported Q3 '21

Free cash flow margin at other companies

TargetTGT

2.8%-0.5pp

SyscoSYY

2.2%-0.4pp

Walmart WMT

1.7%-0.2pp

Best BuyBBY

3.2%—

Dollar TreeDLTR

7%+3.2pp

AmazonAMZN

1.4%-1.8pp

Other financials

Income statement

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Revenue$70.5B+11.6%

Gross profit$9.0B+9.7%

Operating income$2.8B+11.3%

Net income$2.2B+15.2%

EPS (diluted)$4.93+15.2%

Balance sheet

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Cash & equivalents$18.9B+36.9%

Total debt$8.1B-2.7%

Total equity$33.5B+23.5%

Total assets$86.4B+14.5%

Cash flow

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Operating cash flow$11.1B+17.6%

CapEx$4.2B+19.7%

Free cash flow$6.9B+16.3%

Valuation

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Market cap$421.95B-6.1%

Enterprise value$411.14B-7.3%

P/E47.7×-9.5×

P/S1.4×-0.2×

Profitability

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Gross margin12.9%+0.1pp

Operating margin3.8%+0.1pp

Net margin3%+0.1pp

Returns & leverage

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Return on equity29.2%-2.9pp

Debt / equity0.2×-0.1×

Current ratio1.1×+0.1×

Where this comes from

Calculated from Costco Wholesale’s reported figures.

free cash flow/total revenue=3.8%

Based on trailing twelve months.

The official record: Costco Wholesale’s 10-Q, filed June 2, 2022, on SEC EDGAR. View the filing →

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Questions, answered.

What is Costco Wholesale's free cash flow margin?: Costco Wholesale (COST) reported free cash flow margin of 3.8% in Q1 2021.
What does free cash flow margin mean?: How much real, spendable cash each sales dollar generates after reinvestment.
How do you interpret free cash flow margin?: A high and rising FCF margin is the hallmark of a cash-generative business. Persistent gaps between net margin and FCF margin warrant a look at working capital or capital intensity.
How does free cash flow margin compare across companies?: Strong cross-company quality signal; capital-light compounders post structurally higher FCF margins than asset-heavy peers.