The Undisputed Retail Champion: Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (WMT), Target Corporation (TGT), Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST)

On the other hand, wholesale giant Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) is trading at a forward P/E (1yr) of 20.06x, making it more expensive than its peers. The foremost reason behind this is Costco’s whopping growth rate of 14.15%, enticing investors to pay more for Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST). It has a dividend yield of 1.10% and a PEG of 1.73. A mean recommendation of 2.1 on the sell side testifies the fact that it’s one of the best buys in the industry, along with Wal-Mart and Target.

Conclusion

As consumers wait for their tax refunds in the early part of 2013, their low incomes were the core reason behind Wal-Mart’s low revenues. However, as most of the consumers should start receiving their refunds in the early part of March, sales volume will eventually see an upward trend. With high gas prices and payroll taxes on the cards, Wal-Mart’s low pricing should certainly mint healthy revenues for the company. The prices which Wal-mart can offer are hard to beat, if that’s not impossible. Wal-Mart’s competitors can either offer high prices and offer quality products or sell low priced items for low prices. In contrast, Wal-Mart offers low priced / high quality products, which has always been the unique selling point of the retail giant. With the U.S. economy shrinking in the fourth quarter, consumers will definitely look for these sort of products. The bottom line is that Wal-Mart is still the number one retailer in the U.S, and will continue to generate substantial profits this year. In short, it’s a must buy.

The article The Undisputed Retail Champion originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Waqar Saif.

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