Costco Closes Out Fiscal 2026 With Double-Digit Growth, and a Tariff Refund Check in the Mail
Fourth-quarter sales jumped 11.2% to $93.9 billion, membership fee income climbed alongside it, and a one-time tariff refund padded the bottom line further.
Costco closed its fiscal year the way it has closed most of them lately: bigger than the one before. Fourth-quarter net sales rose 11.2% year over year to $93.9 billion, diluted earnings per share climbed to $6.75 from $5.87, and net income landed at just under $3 billion. For the full fiscal year, sales hit $297.2 billion, up 10.1%, with net income of $9.2 billion.
Comparable sales tell a consistent story across every region Costco operates in: 10.7% growth in the US for the quarter, 5.0% in Canada, 7.0% internationally, for a blended total of 9.4%. Membership fee income, the number that actually tells you whether people still believe in the model, rose 11% to $5.9 billion for the quarter. Digitally-enabled comparable sales grew almost 20% for both the quarter and the full year, proof that the warehouse chain's slow-walked e-commerce push is finally compounding. There was also a one-time boost nobody budgeted for: a "non-recurring benefit from IEEPA tariff refunds" added $0.15 per diluted share, some of which the company plowed straight back into member value rather than banking it.
None of this is a surprise to anyone who has watched Costco operate for the last decade, and that is precisely the point. In a retail environment where nearly every other chain is explaining a miss, a pivot, or a round of store closures, Costco's quarterly ritual has become "more of the same, but bigger," and 939 warehouses worldwide are proof the formula still has room to run.
Kyle Duford, Founder & Editor, BRNDWIRE. More from Kyle →
