New York, Feb 11, 2026, 10:32 EST — Regular session
Costco Wholesale Corp shares rose 0.4% to $975.29 in morning trading on Wednesday on the Nasdaq, after Evercore ISI analyst Greg Melich raised his price target to $1,050 and kept an Outperform rating, meaning he expects the stock to beat the market. A price target is the level an analyst thinks a stock could reach over the next 12 months. (TipRanks)
The call matters because Costco has become a crowded “quality retail” trade, priced for steady growth even as markets debate how long interest rates stay restrictive. Small moves in bond yields can ripple into richly valued names like Costco faster than the day-to-day shopping chatter.
U.S. nonfarm payrolls, the broad monthly count of jobs outside agriculture, rose by 130,000 in January and the unemployment rate fell to 4.3%, data showed on Wednesday. Benchmark 10-year Treasury yields were last up about 4.5 basis points, or 0.045 percentage point, at 4.19%, and Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B Riley Wealth, called the report “unambiguously good news.” (Reuters)
Bernstein’s Zhihan Ma also raised his target on Costco to $1,155 and reiterated Outperform. He wrote that U.S. retail sits at “an interesting juncture,” pointing to weak consumer sentiment and a shifting mix of macro risks, from tariff reversals to tax refunds. (TipRanks)
The stock slipped 2.64% on Tuesday to $971.23, underperforming Amazon.com, Walmart and Target in a mixed session for the broader market, MarketWatch data showed. Volume was 1.7 million shares, well below its 50-day average. (MarketWatch)
Even after Wednesday’s bounce, Evercore’s new target sits about 8% above the current price; Bernstein’s is still higher. That gap has helped steady the shares after last week’s run toward $1,000 cooled.
Costco sells groceries and general merchandise through membership-only warehouses, and the fees provide a recurring stream of income that investors like in uneven consumer cycles. The company’s low-price positioning can also draw shoppers when budgets tighten.
Friday brings the next macro swing factor: the Consumer Price Index (CPI), a key U.S. inflation measure, due at 8:30 a.m. ET. Sticky inflation tends to keep rates higher for longer, which can compress valuations across consumer stocks. (Bureau of Labor Statistics)
Costco also has a cash date on the calendar: the company’s quarterly dividend of $1.30 a share is payable Feb. 13 to shareholders of record as of Jan. 30, the company said. Some income funds track those dates closely, even if the payout rarely moves the stock on its own. (Costco Investor Relations)
But a hotter-than-expected CPI print, or a fresh spike in yields, would test how much investors are willing to pay for steady growth. Costco runs on thin merchandise margins, so any slip in traffic or a jump in costs can show up quickly when the company talks outlook.
The next company catalyst is March 5, when Costco hosts its fiscal second-quarter earnings call; it has also scheduled March sales results for April 8, its investor relations site shows. Traders will look for updates on membership income, margins and the pace of discretionary spending. (Costco Investor Relations)
Until then, Costco’s tape will likely follow rates and the broader retail mood, with Friday’s CPI and the March 5 call as the next hard dates.
