Company: COST
Filing Date: 2025-10-08
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0000909832-25-000101
Chunk: 37

Company: COSTCO WHOLESALE CORP /NEW
Filing Date: 2025-10-08
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1A
Chunk 37
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 emergence, severity, magnitude and duration of global or regional health crises are uncertain and difficult to predict. A pandemic could affect certain business operations, demand for our products and services, in-stock positions, costs of doing business, availability of labor, access to inventory, supply chain operations, our ability to predict future performance, exposure to litigation, and our financial performance, among other things. Other factors and uncertainties include, but are not limited to:

•The severity and duration of pandemics;

•Evolving macroeconomic factors, including general economic uncertainty, unemployment rates, and recessionary pressures;

•Changes in labor markets affecting us and our suppliers;

•Unknown consequences on our business performance and initiatives stemming from the substantial investment of time and other resources to the pandemic response;

•The pace of post-pandemic recovery;

•The long-term impact of the pandemic on our business, including consumer behaviors; and

•Disruption and volatility within the financial and credit markets.

15

Failure to meet financial market expectations could adversely affect the market price and volatility of our stock.

We believe that the price of our stock currently reflects high market expectations for our future operating results. Any failure to meet or delay in meeting these expectations, including our comparable sales growth rates, membership fee revenue, including new member sign-ups and renewal rates, gross margin, earnings, earnings per share, new warehouse openings, or dividend or stock repurchase policies could cause the price of our stock to decline.

Legal and Regulatory Risks

Changes in or failure to comply with laws and regulations could adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We are subject to a wide and growing array of federal, state, local and international laws and regulations relating to (among other things), product and food safety, marketing, information security and privacy, labor and employment, imports and customs, transportation, intellectual property, anti-corruption, and environmental or social matters. These laws and regulations may expand mandatory reporting, increase the scope and complexity of matters that we are required to regulate, assess, and disclose, potentially limit our sourcing flexibility or require extensive system or other changes that could increase the cost of doing business. Failure to comply could result in harm to our members, employees, workers in the value chain or others, significant costs to satisfy environmental compliance, remediation or compensatory requirements, or the imposition of severe penalties or restrictions on operations by governmental agencies or courts that could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The impact of changes to or the introduction of new laws, regulations and policies