COST vs WFC: Which Is the Better Buy?
Side-by-side comparison of Costco Wholesale Corporation and Wells Fargo & Company — 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
Wells Fargo & Company · Financial Services
$87.53
+18.1% upside to fair value
Med Conviction
Grade B
High Quality
QuantHub Verdict
WFC has more upside to fair value
(+18.1%).
These are model outputs — not personalized investment advice.
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Valuation & Fundamentals
| Metric |
COST |
WFC |
| Current Price |
$947.50 |
$87.53 |
| Fair Value Estimate |
$933.84 |
$103.38 |
| Upside to Fair Value |
-1.4%
|
+18.1%
|
| Market Cap |
$420.2B |
$267.8B |
| Forward P/E |
47.6x
|
—
|
| EV / EBITDA |
28.3x
|
15.8x
|
| Price / Sales |
1.4x
|
2.1x
|
| Price / FCF |
47.7x
|
226.4x
|
| Revenue Growth YoY |
+11.6%
|
+11.3%
|
| Gross Margin |
12.9%
|
64.5%
|
| Operating Margin |
3.8%
|
21.2%
|
| Return on Equity |
28.3%
|
12.6%
|
| Dividend Yield |
0% |
2.06% |
| FCF Yield |
2.1%
|
0.44%
|
| 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…
Wells Fargo is a diversified U.S. bank operating consumer and commercial banking, corporate and investment banking, and wealth management, supported by a large deposit franchise, a $2.3 trillion asset base, nationwide advisory distribution, and increasingly relevant capital-markets capabilities. Business quality is high but not without legacy constraints: return on equity is 12.6%, gross margin i…
Accumulation Zones
| Metric |
COST |
WFC |
| Zone Low |
$700.38 |
$77.53 |
| Zone High |
$793.76 |
$87.87 |
| In Buy Zone? |
No
|
Yes
|