It's difficult to know what's going to happen in the stock market tomorrow, let alone 10 years from now.
Even though no one has an investing crystal ball, the good news is that there are still durable businesses that have and can benefit from and also withstand anything the economy throws at them.
One of those businesses is Costco Wholesale (COST 0.63%), and it has an advantage that makes it a stock to consider buying and holding for the next decade.
Image source: Getty Images.
Costco's "X" factor
I'm a fan of Target as a strong consumer staples stock, but Target does have Costco's advantage of a required membership. Target makes money when someone buys something, but Costco has already made money even before a member walks through the door to buy something.
For its fiscal 2025, Costco collected $5.3 billion in revenue from memberships. Those cardholders are also extremely loyal, with a roughly 92% renewal rate in the U.S. and Canada and a worldwide renewal rate of nearly 90% as of Q2 2026.
NASDAQ: COST
Key Data Points
Thanks to Costco's bulk deals and beloved Kirkland Signature private label products list, it's the type of membership held on to, no matter what's happening in the economy.
The retailer focuses on deliberate expansion to reach more potential customers, which is a diplomatic way of saying it moves more slowly than some other competitors. But that's better than aggressive expansion that just turns into a money pit because plans were rushed and the demand wasn't there to support new locations. Costco finished 2025 with 914 worldwide warehouses and plans to end 2026 with 942.
Costco stock's forward price-to-earnings ratio of 50 may make some value investors uneasy, so they may want to wait for short-term dips to buy in.
However, given that Costco is generating billions of dollars from membership fees means it's generating revenue even without having people in its stores. That's a tough moat to beat, making it the type of durable company to consider buying and holding for the next 10 years.
