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Truist Keeps Hold Rating on Costco (COST) After August Sales Report

Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) is one of the 10 Unrivaled Stocks of the Next 3 Years. On September 5, Truist Securities reaffirmed its Hold rating on Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) with a price target of $1,042. This decision came after the company reported strong sales in August.

In the US, Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) saw comparable sales rise by 6.7% in August, excluding the impacts from changes in gasoline prices and foreign exchange. This performance was a small improvement of 20 basis points compared to July. For the fourth fiscal quarter, US comparable sales increased by 6%.

Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) saw total sales rise by 6.9% in August, excluding fuel and foreign exchange effects. Net sales for the quarter reached $84.4 billion, up 8% year-over-year and in line with Truist’s estimates.

Truist Securities acknowledged Costco Wholesale Corporation’s (NASDAQ:COST) ability to attract value-conscious customers with competitive offerings. However, the firm remains on the sidelines because of valuation concerns as the stock trades at about 50 times the estimated earnings per share for calendar year 2025.

Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) is a global retailer that operates an international chain of membership warehouses, offering well-known brand products at prices much lower than regular wholesale or retail stores.

While we acknowledge the potential of COST as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than COST and that has a 100x upside potential, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

READ NEXT: Top 10 Stocks Under $10 That Could Triple and 10 Best Affordable Stocks Under $50 to Buy.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.

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When Jeff Bezos said that one breakthrough technology would shape Amazon’s destiny, even Wall Street’s biggest analysts were caught off guard.

Fast forward a year and Amazon’s new CEO Andy Jassy described generative AI as a “once-in-a-lifetime” technology that is already being used across Amazon to reinvent customer experiences.

At the 8th Future Investment Initiative conference, Elon Musk predicted that by 2040 there would be at least 10 billion humanoid robots, with each priced between $20,000 and $25,000.

Do the math. According to Musk, this technology could be worth $250 trillion by 2040.

Put another way, that’s roughly equal to:

  • 175 Teslas
  • 107 Amazons
  • 140 Metas
  • 84 Googles
  • 65 Microsofts
  • And 55 Nvidias

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It’s a leap so massive, it could reshape how businesses, governments, and consumers operate worldwide.

Even if that $250 trillion figure sounds ambitious, major firms like PwC and McKinsey still see AI unlocking multi-trillion-dollar potential.

How could anything be worth that much?

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  • Bill Gates sees artificial intelligence as the “biggest technological advance in my lifetime,” more transformative than the internet or personal computer, capable of improving healthcare, education, and addressing climate change.
  • Larry Ellison — through Oracle, is spending billions on Nvidia chips and partnering with Cohere to embed generative AI across Oracle’s cloud and apps.
  • Warren Buffett — not known for tech hype — says this breakthrough could have a ‘hugely beneficial social impact.

When billionaires from Silicon Valley to Wall Street line up behind the same idea — you know it’s worth paying attention to.

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