Costco vs Walmart: Operating Profit Comparison By Segment

Black berries. Pexels Images.

This article compares the operating profit of Walmart and Costco. We will look at the operating profit of Walmart U.S. and Costco U.S.

In addition to the U.S. segment, we also compare the operating profit of both retailers’ international segments.

Let’s dive in!

For the detailed statistics of Walmart and Costco’s profitability and margins, you may find more resources on these pages:

Walmart

• Walmart profit margin by segment: U.S., International, and Sam’s Club,

Costco

• Costco profit margin by country: U.S., Canada, and International,

Walmart vs Costco

• Walmart vs Costco: profit margin comparison,
• Walmart vs Costco: total locations and average store size,

Please use the table of contents to navigate this page.

Definitions

To help readers understand the content better, the following terms and glossaries have been provided.

Walmart vs Costco in Fiscal Schedules: Walmart’s FY2026 financial results are compared against Costco’s FY2025 results due to differences in their fiscal year reporting.

Walmart operates on a fiscal calendar that ends on January 31, meaning its FY2026 includes February 2025 to January 2026. In contrast, Costco follows a fiscal year ending in August, making its FY2025 cover September 2024 to August 2025.

Since Costco’s FY2026 results are not yet available at the time of Walmart’s latest fiscal report, analysts and industry comparisons often use Costco’s FY2025 as the closest match when evaluating the two retailers’ financial performance.

This approach ensures that the most recent annual results for both companies are used while accounting for their differing fiscal schedules.

Back To Table Of Contents

Why does Walmart generate significantly more profit than Costco?

Walmart generates significantly more profit than Costco due to several key factors related to scale, business model, and operational efficiency.

First, Walmart operates on a much larger scale, with over 10,000 stores worldwide, compared to Costco’s 876 warehouses. This extensive footprint allows Walmart to reach a broader customer base and generate higher overall revenue. In fiscal year 2025, Walmart reported $674 billion in total revenue, significantly surpassing Costco’s $254 billion reported in fiscal year 2024.

Second, Walmart’s business model is designed for high-volume, low-margin sales across a vast range of products. Unlike Costco, which relies on a membership-based model and bulk sales, Walmart attracts a wider range of customers by offering everyday low prices without requiring a membership. This accessibility drives higher foot traffic and sales volume.

Additionally, Walmart benefits from diverse revenue streams, including its Sam’s Club warehouse division, e-commerce operations, and international markets. Costco, while highly profitable, has a more concentrated revenue model, relying heavily on membership fees and bulk purchases.

Finally, Walmart’s supply chain and operational efficiencies contribute to its profitability. The company leverages advanced logistics and economies of scale to keep costs low while maintaining competitive pricing. Costco, on the other hand, focuses on a limited product selection and bulk discounts, which can restrict overall revenue growth.

While both retailers are highly successful, Walmart’s broader market reach, diversified revenue streams, and operational scale give it a significant advantage in generating higher profits.

Back To Table Of Contents

Insight & Summary of Walmart vs Costco in Operating Profit

The following analysis consolidates the trends observed across the comparison between Walmart and Costco’s operating profit for the 2016–2025 period.

• Walmart U.S. enters the period with a commanding absolute operating profit advantage over Costco U.S. — $17.0B versus $2.3B in 2016 — a gap that reflects the sheer scale differential between the two domestic operations. However, the trajectory of the two businesses over the subsequent decade tells a more nuanced story.

• Walmart U.S. operating profit grew from $17.0B to $25.2B, a 48% cumulative increase, but did so unevenly, with multiple years of flat or marginal growth. Costco U.S., by contrast, expanded operating profit from $2.3B to $6.9B — a nearly 3x increase — compounding at a consistently higher annual growth rate in seven of the nine growth periods presented.

• By 2025, while Walmart U.S. still leads in absolute terms by a factor of roughly 3.7x, Costco U.S.’s growth trajectory implies a continued and gradual narrowing of that gap, particularly as Costco’s membership base and revenue scale compound over time.

• The Sam’s Club versus Costco U.S. comparison is the starkest illustration of diverging operational momentum within the warehouse club format. Sam’s Club operating profit has grown from $1.6B in 2016 to $2.4B in 2025 — a 50% cumulative gain over nine years — but has done so with significant volatility, including a severe contraction to $915M in 2017 and a subsequent dip in 2023.

• Costco U.S., operating under the same structural model, delivered $6.9B in operating profit by 2025 — nearly three times Sam’s Club — while sustaining far more consistent year-over-year growth. The compounding divergence between these two businesses over the period is significant: in 2016, Sam’s Club generated approximately 70% of Costco U.S.’s operating profit; by 2025, that ratio had compressed to just 36%. This is a meaningful competitive statement about the relative execution quality and member economics of the two warehouse club formats.

• The international comparison has undergone the most dramatic reversal of the three pairings. Walmart International entered the period generating $5.7B in operating profit against Costco International’s $1.3B — a 4.3x advantage. By 2025, Walmart International’s operating profit had declined to $5.1B while Costco International grew to $3.5B, compressing the gap to approximately 1.5x.

• Walmart International’s operating profit trajectory has been volatile and largely directionally negative over the period, impacted by divestitures, market exits, and the uneven profitability of retained geographies. Costco International, anchored by a high-performing Canadian business and supported by expanding Asia-Pacific operations, has delivered consistent double-digit growth in most years — including a standout 38.7% expansion in 2021.

• The trajectory is unambiguous: if current growth differentials persist, Costco International is on a path to closing the absolute operating profit gap with Walmart International within the next several years, a convergence that would have appeared implausible at the start of the period.

The table below combines the operating profit comparison between Walmart and Costco into a single view for the latest three fiscal years.

Back To Table Of Contents

Walmart U.S. vs Costco U.S.

For the definition of the fiscal schedules of Walmart and Costco, you may refer to this section: Walmart vs Costco in fiscal schedules.

Walmart U.S. generates significantly higher operating profit than Costco U.S., as shown in the chart above. In fiscal year 2025, Walmart U.S. segment’s operating profit was nearly 4X higher than that of Costco U.S. segment.

Back To Table Of Contents

Sam’s Club vs Costco U.S.

For the definition of the fiscal schedules of Walmart and Costco, you may refer to this section: Walmart vs Costco in fiscal schedules.

Sam’s Club’s operating profit falls far short of Costco U.S., as illustrated in the chart above. In fiscal year 2025, Costco U.S. achieved an operating profit approximately 2.5 times greater than that of Sam’s Club.

Back To Table Of Contents

Walmart International vs Costco International

For the definition of the fiscal schedules of Walmart and Costco, you may refer to this section: Walmart vs Costco in fiscal schedules.

Outside of the U.S., Walmart International generates significantly more profit than Costco International (inclusive of Canada), with the operating profit nearly twice as much as that of Costco in fiscal year 2025, as shown in the chart above.

Back To Table Of Contents

U.S., Sam’s Club, International – Profit Growth

For the definition of the fiscal schedules of Walmart and Costco, you may refer to this section: Walmart vs Costco in fiscal schedules.

Back To Table Of Contents

References and Credits

1. All financial figures presented were obtained and referenced from Walmart and Costco’s quarterly and annual reports published on the respective investor relations pages: Walmart Investor Relations and Costco Investor Relations.

2. Pexels Images.

Back To Table Of Contents

Disclosure

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to assist us in writing some of the text in this article. However, the data is directly obtained from original sources and meticulously cross-checked by our editors multiple times to ensure its accuracy and reliability.

If you find the information in this article helpful, please consider sharing it on social media. Additionally, providing a link back to this article from any website can help us create more content like this in the future.

Thank you for your support and engagement! Your involvement helps us continue to provide high-quality, reliable content.

Back To Table Of Contents