COST vs DLTR

Costco and Dollar Tree, both Consumer Defensive

Costco is the larger company at $422B against $21B. On trailing earnings DLTR is the cheaper of the two at a P/E of 20.8 against 52.3, a gap that is only a bargain if the two are growing at similar rates. Over the past year DLTR returned +14% against -0.9% for COST. Ryufin's sector-relative Smart Score puts DLTR ahead, 9/10 against 6/10.

Costco and Dollar Treecompared on valuation, return and Ryufin’s Smart Score
FigureCOSTDLTR
Last close$956$132
Market cap$422B$21B
Trailing P/Elower is cheaper for the same earnings, not automatically better52.320.8
Dividend yield0.5%n/a
1-year return-0.9%+14%
5-year return+134%+33%
Ryufin Smart Scoresector-relative, 1–106/109/10

Figures from SEC filings and end-of-day closes. Highlighting marks the higher or lower number, which is not the same as the better investment, a low P/E can be a warning and a high one can be deserved.

Costco

Revenue of $71B in Q3 2026, net income $2.2B. Its largest reported line is Foods And Sundries, 38% of the disclosed total.

Dollar Tree

Revenue of $4.9B in Q2 2026, net income $515M. Its largest reported line is Consumable, 50% of the disclosed total.

Open these two in the interactive comparison to add more names, change the period or read the correlation.