Charlie Munger's Top Pick Costco's Golden Touch: Gold Prices Soar 58%, Outpacing SPY Since It Started Selling Gold 33 Months Ago

Gold prices have surged nearly 58% after the late veteran investor and stock picker Charlie Munger‘s top pick, Costco Wholesale Corp. COST, started selling gold bars in June 2023.

What Happened: Gold prices have been hitting fresh record highs after surpassing the $3,000 mark. The latest record level notched by the Gold Spot U.S. Dollar was $3,149.03 per ounce.

Interestingly, Costco began selling gold bars in June 2023 in the U.S., and it quickly became a popular item. Since then, gold prices have rallied by 57.78% as of March 31, 2025, outpacing the gains in SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY, which tracks the S&P 500 index. SPY rose by 32.61% in the same period.

Costco, on the other hand, gained as much as 84.51% since June 2023.

Paul Cerro, the CEO of Cedar Grove Capital Holdings, highlighted these metrics in an X post.

Want to know something crazy? Costco $COST started selling 1-ounce gold bars in June of 2023.

Since then, the price of gold has been up 58%, compared to SPY, which is 32%. pic.twitter.com/ui7YRBL9Dt
— Paul Cerro (@paulcerro) March 31, 2025

Why It Matters: Munger, a prominent investor and long-time board member of Costco, was a vocal admirer of the company’s business model, owning a significant stake in Costco that he vowed never to sell.

"I love everything about Costco," he said during the Daily Journal's annual shareholder meeting back in February 2023. He admired Costco's business model and recognized its unique approach to retailing, including its efficient operations, low prices, and membership model.

"I'm a total addict, and I'm never going to sell a share," said Munger during the aforementioned shareholder meeting.

"I wish everything else in America was working as well as Costco does," he said in early 2022. "Think what a blessing that would be for us all."

Price Action: Gold prices have rallied 18.93% on a year-to-date basis, whereas SPY has declined 4.32% in the same period. Costco, on the other hand, was up 3.95% in 2025.

Benzinga Edge Stock Rankings shows that COST’s price trend is weak over the medium and the short term, whereas the long-term trend is strong. It has a momentum ranking at the 85.24th percentile, but its value ranking was weaker. To know more about its fundamental growth and quality rankings, hop on to this page.

Its consensus price target was $1030.46, with a ‘buy' rating, based on the 26 analysts tracked by Benzinga. The price targets ranged from a low of $890 to a high of $1175. The latest ratings from Stifel, Evercore ISI Group, and Barclays averaged $1028.33, implying an 8.88% upside.