Costco

Costco rang up 297.2 billion dollars in sales for the year that ended in August, up 10.1 percent. With membership fees added in, total revenue topped 300 billion dollars for the first time. The final quarter alone hit 93.9 billion dollars, up 11.2 percent, and online shopping jumped 19.5 percent.

Membership fees brought in 5.9 billion dollars this year, up 11 percent from 5.3 billion. That is steady money rolling in before anyone buys a single rotisserie chicken. It also helped Costco build a 20.2 billion dollar cash pile, up from 14.2 billion a year ago.

Costco keeps only about 3 cents of profit from every dollar of sales, earning 9.2 billion dollars on 297.2 billion in sales this year. This quarter's 6.75 dollars per share also got a one-time 15 cent boost from tariff refunds that will not come back. Small jumps in wages, shipping, or tariffs can squeeze those thin margins fast.

The company is valued at around 398 billion dollars, roughly 43 times what it earned this year. That is a steep price when you consider that, leaving out gas prices and currency swings, sales at stores open at least a year grew 6.7 percent this quarter. Investors are expecting near perfection, so any slip could hurt the stock.