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BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings vs Costco Wholesale: Which Stock Looks Stronger in 2026?

Costco Wholesale holds the cleaner structural position, with the lead spread across profitability and valuation. BJ's Wholesale Club still has the edge on valuation, which keeps the comparison from looking entirely one-sided. The market setup broadly confirms the structural lead — Costco Wholesale holds the more constructive position. That puts structure and market broadly in agreement — Costco Wholesale's lead looks more confirmed than conflicted.

The comparison is based on similar long-term financial trajectories, not sector labels. Both peer scores are relative to the Russell 1000 universe, making them directly comparable.

Updated 2026-05-17

This is not just a one-metric split: both profitability and growth materially support the lead. The overall score gap is 9 points in favour of Costco Wholesale Corporation.

INDUSTRY COMPARISON

Both operate in: Discount Stores

This comparison is based on industry proximity, not on functional trajectory similarity. BJ and COST share the same industry classification.

For a similarity-based comparison, see how BJ's Wholesale Club and Costco Wholesale each position within their functional peer groups in AssetNext.

Peer-Relative Score
BJ
BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc.
55
Peer-Score
Signal qualitylow
Peer basis: Russell 1000
vs
COST
Costco Wholesale Corporation
64
Peer-Score
Signal qualitylow
Peer basis: Russell 1000

Scores reflect position relative to comparable companies with similar long-term financial trajectories.

Score differences across key dimensions.

Dimension spread: BJ vs COST Profitability 29 81 Stability 68 61 Valuation 77 33 Growth 50 86 BJ COST
Gap Ranking
#1 Profitability +52
#2 Valuation +44
#3 Growth +36
#4 Stability +7
Price Setup

Left means cheaper relative valuation. Higher means stronger structure.

Price setup map for BJ and COST Stronger + cheaper Stronger + richer Weaker + cheaper Weaker + richer BJCOST Relative valuation Structural strength

Costco Wholesale Corporation still looks cheaper, even though BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc. remains structurally stronger.

Valuation position uses peer-relative PE percentile (idx_pct_pe) where available.

Entry today — historical context

Where BJ and COST each sit in their own 5-year price and valuation history.

BASED ON 5-YEAR HISTORY BJ Elevated · near norm 0th 50th 100th 17 pct gap COST Elevated · above norm 0th 50th 100th 82nd 99th
Today BJ sits in the upper portion of its own 5-year history (82nd percentile), while COST sits higher in its own history (99th). Within each stock's own 5-year context, BJ is at a historically more favourable entry position than COST. This reflects entry timing, not which company is structurally stronger — peer-relative analysis is a separate question addressed above.

Describes historical entry positioning only. Descriptive — not investment advice.

Relative Position vs Comparable Companies
Profitability
On profitability, Costco Wholesale Corporation ranks near the top of the group; BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc. sits in the weaker half.
Valuation
On valuation, the gap still runs the same way: BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc. sits near the top of the group, while Costco Wholesale Corporation remains in the weaker half.
Profitability — Dominant Gap
BJ
29
COST
81
Gap+52in favour of COST

Capital efficiency adds support, with a 40-point ROIC advantage.

What keeps the gap from being one-sided

Absolute pricing still looks more supportive for BJ's Wholesale Club, with a forward P/E that is 27 turns lower there.

What this means for the comparison

The profitability lead is clear, but pricing and valuation still pull in the other direction — the result holds, but not without friction.

Explore full peer positioning in AssetNext

Break down the BJ vs COST comparison across all dimensions with the full interactive tool.

Explore full breakdown →
Other comparisons with conflicting dimension signals

Explore how BJ and COST each compare against other companies in their peer groups.

Rule-based, descriptive analysis only. Derived from peer percentile dimensions. Not investment advice. Peer groups are determined algorithmically based on structural similarity — not by sector classification alone.

How AssetNext Peer Scores Work

AssetNext scores reflect each company's structural position within its functional peer group — not a ranking against all stocks simultaneously. Peers are identified by similarity across eight financial dimensions, including revenue growth trajectory, margin structure, capital intensity, and earnings stability. A score of 75 means the company ranks in the top quartile within its own peer group, not the entire market.

Four dimension scores drive the overall peer score: Growth (revenue trajectory and expansion dynamics), Quality (margin structure and capital efficiency), Valuation (peer-relative pricing on standard multiples), and Stability (earnings consistency and financial predictability). Each dimension is scored 0–100 relative to the peer group, then combined into an overall peer score using equal weighting.

Because scores are peer-relative, the same company can have slightly different scores in different index universes. On comparison pages, both companies are shown within their shared peer universe wherever possible — so the scores are directly comparable. The peer basis is stated on each score card.

Scores are recalculated periodically as underlying financial data is updated. All analysis is descriptive and rule-based — AssetNext describes structural realities and never issues buy, sell or hold recommendations.