Costco Wholesale (COST) WACC %

Costco Wholesale Annual Data
	Trend	Aug14	Aug15	Aug16	Aug17	Aug18	Aug19	Aug20	Aug21	Aug22	Aug23
WACC %							6.94	4.15	4.67	6.71	9.72

Costco Wholesale Quarterly Data
	May19	Aug19	Nov19	Feb20	May20	Aug20	Nov20	Feb21	May21	Aug21	Nov21	Feb22	May22	Aug22	Nov22	Feb23	May23	Aug23	Nov23	Feb24
WACC %																8.30	9.26	9.72	10.01	10.30

For the Discount Stores subindustry, Costco Wholesale's WACC %, along with its competitors' market caps and WACC % data, can be viewed below:

* Competitive companies are chosen from companies within the same industry, with headquarter located in same country, with closest market capitalization; x-axis shows the market cap, and y-axis shows the term value; the bigger the dot, the larger the market cap. Note that "N/A" values will not show up in the chart.

For the Retail - Defensive industry and Consumer Defensive sector, Costco Wholesale's WACC % distribution charts can be found below:

* The bar in red indicates where Costco Wholesale's WACC % falls into.

Costco Wholesale WACC % Calculation

The weighted average cost of capital (WACC) is the rate that a company is expected to pay on average to all its security holders to finance its assets. The WACC is commonly referred to as the firm's cost of capital. Generally speaking, a company's assets are financed by debt and equity. WACC is the average of the costs of these sources of financing, each of which is weighted by its respective use in the given situation. By taking a weighted average, we can see how much interest the company has to pay for every dollar it finances.

1. Weights:
Generally speaking, a company's assets are financed by debt and equity. We need to calculate the weight of equity and the weight of debt.
The market value of equity (E) is also called "Market Cap". As of today, Costco Wholesale's market capitalization (E) is $317087.646 Mil.
The market value of debt is typically difficult to calculate, therefore, GuruFocus uses book value of debt (D) to do the calculation. It is simplified by adding the latest one-year quarterly average Short-Term Debt & Capital Lease Obligation and Long-Term Debt & Capital Lease Obligation together. As of Feb. 2024, Costco Wholesale's latest one-year quarterly average Book Value of Debt (D) is $9161.4 Mil.
a) weight of equity = E / (E + D) = 317087.646 / (317087.646 + 9161.4) = 0.9719
b) weight of debt = D / (E + D) = 9161.4 / (317087.646 + 9161.4) = 0.0281

2. Cost of Equity:
GuruFocus uses Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) to calculate the required rate of return. The formula is:
Cost of Equity = Risk-Free Rate of Return + Beta of Asset * (Expected Return of the Market - Risk-Free Rate of Return)
a) GuruFocus uses 10-Year Treasury Constant Maturity Rate as the risk-free rate. It is updated daily. The current risk-free rate is 4.565%. Please go to Economic Indicators page for more information. Please note that we use the 10-Year Treasury Constant Maturity Rate of the country/region where the company is headquartered. If the data for that country/region is not available, then we will use the 10-Year Treasury Constant Maturity Rate of the United States as default.
b) Beta is the sensitivity of the expected excess asset returns to the expected excess market returns. Costco Wholesale's beta is 1.03.
c) (Expected Return of the Market - Risk-Free Rate of Return) is also called market premium. GuruFocus requires market premium to be 6%.
Cost of Equity = 4.565% + 1.03 * 6% = 10.745%

3. Cost of Debt:
GuruFocus uses latest TTM Interest Expense divided by the latest one-year quarterly average debt to get the simplified cost of debt.
As of Feb. 2024, Costco Wholesale's interest expense (positive number) was $171 Mil. Its total Book Value of Debt (D) is $9161.4 Mil.
Cost of Debt = 171 / 9161.4 = 1.8665%.

4. Multiply by one minus TTM Tax Rate:
GuruFocus uses the most recent TTM Tax Expense divided by the most recent TTM Pre-Tax Income to calculate the tax rate. The calculated TTM tax rate is limited to between 0% and 100%. If the calculated tax rate is higher than 100%, it is set to 100%. If the calculated tax rate is less than 0%, it is set to 0%.
The latest calculated TTM Tax Rate = 2283 / 9077 = 25.15%.

Costco Wholesale's Weighted Average Cost Of Capital (WACC) for Today is calculated as:

* For Operating Data section: All numbers are indicated by the unit behind each term and all currency related amount are in USD.
* For other sections: All numbers are in millions except for per share data, ratio, and percentage. All currency related amount are indicated in the company's associated stock exchange currency.

Costco Wholesale  (NAS:COST) WACC % Explanation

Because it costs money to raise capital. A firm that generates higher ROIC % than it costs the company to raise the capital needed for that investment is earning excess returns. A firm that expects to continue generating positive excess returns on new investments in the future will see its value increase as growth increases, whereas a firm that earns returns that do not match up to its cost of capital will destroy value as it grows.

As of today, Costco Wholesale's weighted average cost of capital is 10.48%%. Costco Wholesale's ROIC % is 14.90% (calculated using TTM income statement data). Costco Wholesale generates higher returns on investment than it costs the company to raise the capital needed for that investment. It is earning excess returns. A firm that expects to continue generating positive excess returns on new investments in the future will see its value increase as growth increases.

1. GuruFocus uses book value of debt (D) to do the calculation. It is simplified by adding latest one-year quarterly average Short-Term Debt & Capital Lease Obligation and Long-Term Debt & Capital Lease Obligation together.
For companies that report quarterly, GuruFocus combines all of the most recent year's quarterly debt data from the beginning of the year to the year-end and calculates the average.
For companies that report semi-annually, GuruFocus combines all of the most recent year's semi-annual debt data from the start of the year to the year-end and calculates the average.
For companies that report annually, GuruFocus combines the beginning and ending annual debt data from the most recent year and then calculates the average.

2. The WACC formula discussed above does not include Preferred Stock. Please adjust if preferred stock is considered.

3. (Expected Return of the Market - Risk-Free Rate of Return) is also called market premium. GuruFocus requires market premium to be 6%.

4. GuruFocus uses the latest TTM Interest Expense divided by the latest one-year quarterly average debt to get the simplified cost of debt.

Costco Wholesale (COST) Business Description