Inflation Just Hit 3.8% and Nine Out of Ten Costco Members Re-Up Every Year.
Here Is Why That Math Matters
Quick Read – Costco (COST) — membership model strengthens during inflation with 82.1 million members and 89.7% renewal rate. – Costco generated $7.837 billion in free cash flow during FY2025 with stable utility-like customer economics. – Q2 FY2026 comparable sales hit 7.4% as bulk pricing gains wallet share during rising inflation. – The analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 stocks and Costco wasn’t one of them. Get them here FREE. The long-term case for Costco rests on the fact that its membership model strengthens when inflation squeezes household budgets, and the data entering mid-2026 says that squeeze is back.
Costco (NASDAQ:COST) closed Q2 FY2026 with 82.1 million paid memberships and an 89.7% worldwide renewal rate, a figure so stable across quarters it functions more like a utility’s customer base than a retailer’s. Membership fee income reached $1.355 billion, up 13.6% year over year, and Executive members now drive 75.8% of sales. These customers pay annually for the right to shop, and roughly nine in ten of them re-up each year.