Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST) cash flow statement
NASDAQ · Consumer Defensive · Discount Stores · 355,000 employees · CEO Ron Vachris
- Price
- $1,012.28 +1.78%
- Market cap
- $449B
- Enterprise value
- $437B
- Last report
- Q4 '26 filed 2026-10-07
- Next report
- 2026-12-10 EPS est. $4.93
In Q4 '26 Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST) generated $4.69B of operating cash flow, invested $2.21B in capital expenditure and kept $2.49B of free cash flow. Over the last four quarters free cash flow was –.
Cash flow
| Cash flow | Trend | Q1 '24 | Q2 '24 | Q3 '24 | Q4 '24 | Q1 '25 | Q2 '25 | Q3 '25 | Q4 '25 | Q1 '26 | Q2 '26 | Q3 '26 | Q4 '26 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating | |||||||||||||
| Net income | $1.59B | $1.74B | $1.68B | $2.35B | $1.8B | $1.79B | $1.9B | $2.61B | $2B | $2.04B | $2.19B | $3B | |
| Depreciation & amortization | $501M | $514M | $516M | $706M | $548M | $552M | $552M | $774M | $597M | $597M | $597M | $883M | |
| Stock-based compensation | $444M | $136M | $106M | $132M | $463M | $151M | $106M | $140M | $486M | $166M | $119M | $153M | |
| Change in working capital | $2B | -$1.69B | $652M | -$355M | $451M | $199M | $764M | $350M | $1.53B | -$1.53B | $499M | $1.53B | |
| Other non-cash items | $117M | $24M | $44M | $121M | $0 | $58M | $135M | -$7M | $70M | $1.73B | $42M | -$876M | |
| Operating cash flow | $4.65B | $731M | $3B | $2.96B | $3.26B | $2.75B | $3.46B | $3.87B | $4.69B | $3B | $3.45B | $4.69B | |
| Investing | |||||||||||||
| Capital expenditure | -$1.04B | -$1.03B | -$1.06B | -$1.58B | -$1.26B | -$1.14B | -$1.13B | -$1.97B | -$1.53B | -$1.29B | -$1.41B | -$2.21B | |
| Purchases of investments | -$200M | -$519M | -$288M | -$463M | -$247M | -$98M | -$228M | -$455M | -$195M | -$55M | -$230M | -$308M | |
| Sales / maturities of investments | $878M | $151M | $412M | $349M | $541M | $211M | $34M | $355M | $340M | $170M | $34M | $267M | |
| Other investing | -$4M | $13M | -$16M | -$12M | -$15M | $2M | -$11M | $98M | -$17M | $4M | $17M | $22M | |
| Investing cash flow | -$366M | -$1.39B | -$954M | -$1.7B | -$985M | -$1.02B | -$1.34B | -$1.97B | -$1.4B | -$1.17B | -$1.59B | -$2.23B | |
| Financing | |||||||||||||
| Net debt issued / repaid | $385M | -$12M | -$1M | -$1.09B | -$82M | -$35M | -$20M | -$159M | -$23M | $57M | -$71M | $369M | |
| Share buybacks | -$162M | -$160M | -$162M | -$216M | -$207M | -$205M | -$211M | -$280M | -$210M | -$209M | -$184M | -$245M | |
| Dividends | -$905M | -$452M | -$515M | -$514M | -$515M | $0 | -$515M | -$1.15B | -$577M | -$577M | $0 | -$1.3B | |
| Other financing (incl. tax on vested shares) | -$292M | $3M | -$20M | -$1M | -$389M | -$1M | -$2M | -$1M | -$357M | -$1M | -$23M | $0 | |
| Financing cash flow | -$974M | -$7.28B | -$698M | -$1.82B | -$1.19B | -$241M | -$748M | -$1.59B | -$1.17B | -$730M | -$278M | -$1.18B | |
| Summary | |||||||||||||
| FX effect on cash | $0 | $15M | -$38M | $63M | -$81M | -$36M | $104M | $19M | -$67M | $70M | -$16M | -$25M | |
| Net change in cash | $3.31B | -$7.92B | $1.31B | -$498M | $1B | $1.45B | $1.48B | $325M | $2.06B | $1.17B | $1.56B | $1.26B | |
| Free cash flow (OCF - capex) | $3.61B | -$300M | $1.94B | $1.38B | $2B | $1.61B | $2.33B | $1.9B | $3.16B | $1.71B | $2.04B | $2.49B | |
| Income taxes paid | $210M | $987M | $252M | $870M | $401M | $397M | $850M | -$1.65B | $239M | $777M | $719M | $1.1B | |
| Interest paid | $52M | $10M | $28M | $39M | $44M | $11M | $26M | -$81M | $43M | $8M | $27M | $25M | |
| Cash flow | Trend | FY17 | FY18 | FY19 | FY20 | FY21 | FY22 | FY23 | FY24 | FY25 | FY26 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating | |||||||||||
| Net income | $2.71B | $3.18B | $3.7B | $4.06B | $5.08B | $5.92B | $6.29B | $7.37B | $8.1B | $9.23B | |
| Depreciation & amortization | $1.37B | $1.44B | $1.49B | $1.65B | $1.78B | $1.9B | $2.08B | $2.24B | $2.43B | $2.67B | |
| Stock-based compensation | $514M | $544M | $595M | $619M | $665M | $724M | $774M | $818M | $860M | $924M | |
| Deferred income tax | -$29M | -$49M | $147M | $104M | $59M | -$37M | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | |
| Change in working capital | $2.17B | $669M | $409M | $2.2B | $1B | -$1.56B | $1.02B | $611M | $1.76B | $2.33B | |
| Other non-cash items | -$14M | -$6M | $9M | $236M | $371M | $453M | $907M | $306M | $186M | $673M | |
| Operating cash flow | $6.73B | $5.77B | $6.36B | $8.86B | $8.96B | $7.39B | $11.1B | $11.3B | $13.3B | $15.8B | |
| Investing | |||||||||||
| Capital expenditure | -$2.5B | -$2.97B | -$3B | -$2.81B | -$3.59B | -$3.89B | -$4.32B | -$4.71B | -$5.5B | -$6.44B | |
| Acquisitions | $0 | $0 | $0 | -$1.16B | $0 | -$842M | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | |
| Purchases of investments | -$1.28B | -$1.06B | -$1.09B | -$1.63B | -$1.33B | -$1.12B | -$1.62B | -$1.47B | -$1.03B | -$788M | |
| Sales / maturities of investments | $1.39B | $1.08B | $1.23B | $1.68B | $1.45B | $1.15B | $937M | $1.79B | $1.14B | $811M | |
| Other investing | $30M | $4M | -$4M | $30M | -$62M | -$48M | $36M | -$19M | $74M | $26M | |
| Investing cash flow | -$2.37B | -$2.95B | -$2.87B | -$3.89B | -$3.54B | -$4.76B | -$4.97B | -$4.41B | -$5.31B | -$6.39B | |
| Financing | |||||||||||
| Net debt issued / repaid | $1.35B | -$6M | $419M | $792M | -$120M | -$800M | -$384M | -$708M | -$296M | $312M | |
| Share buybacks | -$469M | -$328M | -$247M | -$196M | -$496M | -$439M | -$676M | -$700M | -$903M | -$848M | |
| Dividends | -$3.9B | -$689M | -$1.04B | -$1.48B | -$5.75B | -$1.5B | -$1.25B | -$9.04B | -$2.18B | -$2.46B | |
| Other financing (incl. tax on vested shares) | -$191M | -$258M | -$281M | -$264M | -$124M | -$704M | -$303M | -$315M | -$393M | -$361M | |
| Financing cash flow | -$3.22B | -$1.28B | -$1.15B | -$1.15B | -$6.49B | -$3.44B | -$2.61B | -$10.8B | -$3.78B | -$3.36B | |
| Summary | |||||||||||
| FX effect on cash | $25M | -$37M | -$15M | $70M | $46M | -$249M | $15M | $40M | $6M | -$38M | |
| Net change in cash | $1.17B | $1.51B | $2.33B | $3.89B | -$1.02B | -$1.06B | $3.5B | -$3.79B | $4.26B | $6.05B | |
| Free cash flow (OCF - capex) | $4.22B | $2.81B | $3.36B | $6.05B | $5.37B | $3.5B | $6.75B | $6.63B | $7.84B | $9.39B | |
| Income taxes paid | $1.19B | $1.2B | $1.19B | $1.05B | $1.53B | $1.94B | $2.23B | $2.32B | $2.92B | $0 | |
| Interest paid | $131M | $143M | $141M | $124M | $149M | $145M | $125M | $129M | $106M | $0 | |
Standardised by Financial Modeling Prep from the company's filings; outflows and costs keep the sign the provider reports. Hover a period for its end date. Amounts in USD.
Operating cash flow, capex, free cash flow
quarterlyUses of cash vs operating cash flow
fiscal yearsShare count and EPS
quarterly, dilutedThe other statements
Sources
Statements, segment revenue, metrics, estimates: Financial Modeling Prep. Segment profits and every reported line: SEC EDGAR (XBRL). Filings read: 10-K 2026-08-30, 10-Q 2026-05-10, 10-Q 2026-02-15, 10-Q 2025-11-23, 10-K 2025-08-31, 10-Q 2025-05-11, 10-Q 2025-02-16, 10-Q 2024-11-24, 10-K 2024-09-01
Data as of 2026-11-01