Quick Read – A 17% year-to-date jump in Costco (COST) shares may have investors considering the “Sell in May and Go Away” adage.
Should they? – Selling a long-term compounder on a seasonal hunch has historically been an expensive habit, but are things different now? – The analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 stocks and Costco wasn’t one of them
Get them here FREE. Costco (NASDAQ: COST) closed at $1,008.79 a share on May 8, 2026, leaving the warehouse giant perched just above the psychologically loaded $1,000 line. The setup is what makes the “Sell in May and Go Away” adage worth a fresh look on a name most investors think of as bulletproof.
The Setup That Triggers the Question Costco is up 17.0% year to date, despite being only 0.1% higher over the trailing twelve months. Essentially, the recent gain has come on a defensive name already trading at a 52 trailing P/E and roughly 46 on a forward basis, with a PEG of 5 and price-to-book near 14. That is one of the richest multiples in retail.