Here's How Much You'd Have Today if You Invested $5,000 Each in Amazon and Costco 3 Years Ago. The Gains May Surprise You.

The article argues that Amazon has outperformed Costco over the past three years, but by less than many investors might expect. A $5,000 investment made in July 2023 would be worth about $9,186 in Amazon versus $8,756 in Costco, showing that both stocks delivered strong gains. The piece says Amazon’s real advantage is its cloud-computing and AI infrastructure business, not its retail operations. Amazon Web Services had a 28% cloud market share in Q1 2026, ahead of Microsoft Azure at 21%. The article highlights Amazon’s cheaper valuation relative to Costco and suggests AWS, custom AI chips, and the broader cloud market—which Goldman Sachs expects to reach $2 trillion by 2030—could support further upside if capital spending translates into better margins and revenue growth.