COST vs LULU: Which Is the Better Buy?
Side-by-side comparison of Costco Wholesale Corporation and Lululemon Athletica Inc. — fair value, conviction, valuation metrics, and QuantHub research signals.
Updated 2026-07-17.
Costco Wholesale Corporation · Consumer Defensive
$947.50
-1.4% upside to fair value
Grade C
High Quality
VS
Lululemon Athletica Inc. · Consumer Cyclical
$116.33
+45.0% upside to fair value
Med Conviction
Grade B-
QuantHub Verdict
LULU has more upside to fair value
(+45.0%).
These are model outputs — not personalized investment advice.
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Valuation & Fundamentals
| Metric |
COST |
LULU |
| Current Price |
$947.50 |
$116.33 |
| Fair Value Estimate |
$933.84 |
$168.68 |
| Upside to Fair Value |
-1.4%
|
+45.0%
|
| Market Cap |
$420.2B |
$13.2B |
| Forward P/E |
47.6x
|
—
|
| EV / EBITDA |
28.3x
|
5.3x
|
| Price / Sales |
1.4x
|
1.2x
|
| Price / FCF |
47.7x
|
10.3x
|
| Revenue Growth YoY |
+11.6%
|
+4.3%
|
| Gross Margin |
12.9%
|
55.7%
|
| Operating Margin |
3.8%
|
18.2%
|
| Return on Equity |
28.3%
|
31.3%
|
| Dividend Yield |
0% |
0% |
| FCF Yield |
2.1%
|
9.69%
|
| Analyst Consensus |
Buy
|
Hold
|
Investment Thesis
Costco Wholesale Corporation operates as a membership-only warehouse club offering a wide range of merchandise at low prices. The company exhibits high business quality with a durable competitive moat driven by cost advantages, strong brand loyalty, and efficient operations, reflected in a robust ROE of 28.3% and solid revenue growth of 11.6% in the most recent quarter. Despite these strengths, t…
Lululemon Athletica is a premium athletic-apparel retailer whose technical-product innovation, powerful brand, direct-to-consumer retail and e-commerce model, and community-led marketing have historically supported high returns, including a 31.3% ROE, 55.7% gross margin, 18.2% operating margin, and 13.0% net margin. The investment case is now a turnaround rather than a clean compounding story: in…
Accumulation Zones
| Metric |
COST |
LULU |
| Zone Low |
$700.38 |
$126.51 |
| Zone High |
$793.76 |
$143.38 |
| In Buy Zone? |
No
|
Yes
|