Costco's ROE rose from ~25% to ~31% — on stronger margins and a leaner equity baseThree-step and five-step DuPont, on reported FY2024 and FY2023 financials

EXHIBIT 1

ROE and its drivers — year over year

EXHIBIT 2

Five-step decomposition

Read. Costco's ROE rose from 25.1% in FY2023 to 31.2% in FY2024. Most of the lift is operational — net margin expanded to ~2.9% and the membership-warehouse model sustains an exceptional ~3.6x asset turnover. But part of it is balance-sheet driven: the equity multiplier climbed from 2.75x to 2.96x because the ~$6.7bn special dividend paid in January 2024 reduced shareholders' equity, mechanically lifting return on equity. A careful reader treats a slice of the FY2024 ROE gain as capital return, not operating improvement.

Sources: Costco Wholesale Corporation Forms 10-K — FY2024 (52 weeks ended Sep 1, 2024) and FY2023 (53 weeks ended Sep 3, 2023). Figures as reported ($ in millions). Not investment advice.