Here's How Much Investing $100 In Costco Stock Back In 2010 Would Be Worth Today

Investors who owned stocks in the 2010s generally experienced some big gains. In fact, the SPDR S&P 500 SPY total return for the decade was 250.5%. But there’s no question some big-name stocks did much better than others along the way.

Costco’s Big Decade

One of the market leaders of the past decade was retail giant Costco Wholesale Corporation COST.

The 2010s were a transformative decade for the retail sector. Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN applied major pressure to a large portion of the sector, but discount retailers like Costco were relatively insulated from Amazon’s wrath.

Costco has been one of the steadiest, most consistent retail sector performers of the past decade. Its revenue is up 108% in the past 10 years. Total membership is up from 58 million in 2010 to 99.9 million today. At the same time, Costco has been able to better monetize those customers by raising monthly membership fees. The total number of Costco warehouses has grown from 582 in 2010 to 785 today. The company has grown its high-margin executive memberships and rewarded investors with dividend payments along the way, including a handful of large special dividend payments.

Costco shares started the 2010s trading at around $59. By the end of 2010, Costco shares had dipped as low as $53.41, a price which would mark its low point of the decade. From that point forward, Costco shares have generated a steady stream of textbook bullish higher highs and higher lows.

Costco hit $100 for the first time by late 2012 and never traded back below $100 after early 2013. Costco hit $150 for the first time in early 2015 and finally reached $200 by early 2018. After taking roughly six years to make it from $100 to $200, Costco took less that three years to get from $200 to $300, reaching the mark for the first time in late 2019.

2020 And Beyond

So far, the 2020s have started out looking a lot like the 2010s for Costco. The stock traded as high as $325.26 before pulling back to around $285 due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Costco was one of the biggest under-the-radar performers of the past decade. In fact, $100 worth of Costco stock in 2010 would be worth about $591 today, assuming reinvested dividends.

Looking ahead, analysts expect Costco to recover its coronavirus losses in 2020. The average price target among the 26 analysts covering the stock is $324.50, suggesting 14.7% upside from current levels.

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Photo credit: Tony Webster, via Wikimedia Commons