What's Going On With Costco Stock Thursday?

Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ:COST) shares rose Thursday, bucking a broader pullback in Consumer Discretionary stocks as recent analyst upgrades and higher price targets reinforced its appeal as a defensive, quality retail play. With major indexes modestly lower and the discretionary sector under pressure, investors rotated into steadier, cash-flow-driven names—helping Costco stand out as buyers prioritized resilience over higher-beta exposure. The Nasdaq is down 0.19% while the S&P 500 has shed 0.11%, and Costco’s relative strength stands out against the sector’s -1.2% drop. Market breadth is still constructive (7 sectors advancing, 4 declining; 1.8 advance/decline ratio), which can support selective buying even when the major indexes are slightly red. Technical Analysis At $1007.70, Costco is trading 1.8% above its 20-day simple moving average (SMA), the stock’s average price over the last 20 sessions, which suggests short-term trend support is still intact. It’s also 6.7% above its 100-day SMA, indicating the intermediate trend remains tilted upward. The moving average convergence divergence (MACD), a trend/momentum indicator, is bullish, with the MACD at 0.8710 above the 0.3347 signal line, suggesting improving upside pressure compared with recent weeks. In March, the golden cross (50-day SMA moving above the 200-day SMA) reinforced the longer-term uptrend after the death cross in August flagged the prior downshift. Key Resistance: $1013.00 — a level where recent rallies have tended to stall. Key Support: $960.50 — an area where buyers have recently shown up. Sector Performance Costco is outperforming its Consumer Discretionary peer group today, rising while the sector is down -1.21%, a gap of about 2.32 percentage points. That’s notable because Consumer Discretionary ranks 11 out of 11 sectors (the weakest performer), so relative strength here is more meaningful than on a strong sector day. The sector’s recent trend has also been a headwind, with Consumer Discretionary down -5.21% over the past 30 days and down -8.40% over the past 90 days. Costco’s ability to trade green while the group is under pressure suggests investors are treating it more like a “staples-adjacent” retailer than a typical discretionary name. Earnings & Analyst Outlook Looking further out, the next major catalyst for the stock arrives with the May 28, 2026 (estimated) earnings report. EPS Estimate: $4.90 (Up from $4.28 YoY) Revenue Estimate: $68.61 Billion (Up from $63.20 Billion YoY) Valuation: P/E of 51.8x (Indicates premium valuation relative to peers) Analyst Consensus & Recent Actions: The stock carries a Buy Rating with an average price target of $1064.29. Recent analyst moves include: Telsey Advisory Group: Outperform (Maintains Target to $1125.00) (March 31) JP Morgan: Overweight (Raises Target to $1060.00) (March 6) BMO Capital: Outperform (Raises Target to $1315.00) (March 6) Benzinga Edge Rankings Below is the Benzinga Edge scorecard for Costco Wholesale, highlighting its strengths and weaknesses compared to the broader market: Momentum: Moderate (Score: 65.53) — The trend is constructive, but not in “breakout” territory. Quality: Strong (Score: 91.04) — The market is rewarding consistency and business durability. Value: Moderate (Score: 37.029) — Valuation looks less compelling versus many peers at this price. Growth: Moderate (Score: 63.91) — Expectations imply steady expansion, though not hyper-growth. The Verdict: Costco Wholesale’s Benzinga Edge signal reveals a quality-led profile with supportive momentum and solid growth characteristics. The main trade-off is valuation, where the score suggests investors are paying up for stability. Top ETF Exposure Invesco S&P 500 Quality ETF (NYSE:SPHQ): 4.81% Weight State Street Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR ETF (NYSE:XLP): 9.00% Weight The Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLP): 9.52% Weight Significance: Because COST carries such a heavy weight in these funds, any significant inflows or outflows will likely trigger automatic buying or selling of the stock. COST Stock Price Activity: Costco Wholesale shares were up 1.15% at $1008.00 at the time of publication on Thursday, according to Benzinga Pro data. Photo by bluestork via Shutterstock