COST vs QCOM: Which Is the Better Buy?
Side-by-side comparison of Costco Wholesale Corporation and QUALCOMM Incorporated — fair value, conviction, valuation metrics, and QuantHub research signals.
Updated 2026-07-08.
Costco Wholesale Corporation · Consumer Defensive
$947.50
-1.4% upside to fair value
Grade C
High Quality
VS
QUALCOMM Incorporated · Technology
$226.11
-10.7% upside to fair value
Grade D
High Quality
QuantHub Verdict
COST has more upside to fair value
(-1.4%).
QCOM trades at a lower forward P/E
(24.3x).
These are model outputs — not personalized investment advice.
See all research →
Valuation & Fundamentals
| Metric |
COST |
QCOM |
| Current Price |
$947.50 |
$226.11 |
| Fair Value Estimate |
$933.84 |
$201.84 |
| Upside to Fair Value |
-1.4%
|
-10.7%
|
| Market Cap |
$420.2B |
$238.3B |
| Forward P/E |
47.6x
|
24.3x
|
| EV / EBITDA |
28.3x
|
17.5x
|
| Price / Sales |
1.4x
|
5.4x
|
| Price / FCF |
47.7x
|
19.1x
|
| Revenue Growth YoY |
+11.6%
|
-3.5%
|
| Gross Margin |
12.9%
|
54.8%
|
| Operating Margin |
3.8%
|
25.5%
|
| Return on Equity |
28.3%
|
40.2%
|
| Dividend Yield |
0% |
0% |
| FCF Yield |
2.1%
|
5.25%
|
| 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…
Qualcomm Incorporated is a leading semiconductor and telecommunications equipment company specializing in cellular and RF technologies, with a strong competitive moat driven by its intellectual property and scale in premium Android and 5G modems. The company benefits from a long-tenured management team and a diversified business model expanding into automotive, IoT, and computing sectors. Despite…
Accumulation Zones
| Metric |
COST |
QCOM |
| Zone Low |
$700.38 |
$151.38 |
| Zone High |
$793.76 |
$171.56 |
| In Buy Zone? |
No
|
No
|