COST vs MRK: Which Is the Better Buy?
Side-by-side comparison of Costco Wholesale Corporation and Merck & Co., Inc. — fair value, conviction, valuation metrics, and QuantHub research signals.
Updated 2026-05-20.
Costco Wholesale Corporation · Consumer Defensive
$999.89
-20.7% upside to fair value
Grade D
High Quality
VS
Merck & Co., Inc. · Healthcare
$114.27
+3.3% upside to fair value
Grade C
High Quality
QuantHub Verdict
MRK has more upside to fair value
(+3.3%).
MRK trades at a lower forward P/E
(22.4x).
These are model outputs — not personalized investment advice.
See all research →
Valuation & Fundamentals
| Metric |
COST |
MRK |
| Current Price |
$999.89 |
$114.27 |
| Fair Value Estimate |
$793.02 |
$118.00 |
| Upside to Fair Value |
-20.7%
|
+3.3%
|
| Market Cap |
$443.6B |
$282.2B |
| Forward P/E |
51.9x
|
22.4x
|
| EV / EBITDA |
30.9x
|
13.5x
|
| Price / Sales |
1.6x
|
4.3x
|
| Price / FCF |
48.8x
|
20.2x
|
| Revenue Growth YoY |
+9.2%
|
+5.0%
|
| Gross Margin |
12.9%
|
81.9%
|
| Operating Margin |
3.8%
|
27.5%
|
| Return on Equity |
28.8%
|
5.6%
|
| Dividend Yield |
0% |
2.91% |
| FCF Yield |
2.05%
|
4.95%
|
| Analyst Consensus |
Buy
|
Overweight
|
Investment Thesis
Costco Wholesale Corporation operates a global membership-based warehouse club model that leverages scale, low costs, and superior employee retention to deliver consistent revenue and earnings growth. The company reported $269.9 billion in net sales for fiscal 2025 with an 8% year-over-year increase, driven by strong segments in Foods and Sundries and membership fees exceeding $5.65 billion in th…
Merck delivered a clean Q1 2026 operational beat on April 30, with revenue of 16.3 billion dollars growing 5 percent year over year and Keytruda sales rising 12 percent to 8.0 billion dollars. The reported loss of 1.28 dollars per share, though better than the negative 1.47 dollar consensus estimate, reflected a 3.62 dollar per share IPR and D charge tied to the Cidara Therapeutics acquisition an…
Accumulation Zones
| Metric |
COST |
MRK |
| Zone Low |
$594.76 |
$88.50 |
| Zone High |
$674.07 |
$100.30 |
| In Buy Zone? |
No
|
No
|