benzinga’s weekly stock wars matches up two leaders in a major industry sector with the goal of determining which company is the better investment this week the duel is between two warehouse club giants bjs wholesale club holdings inc bj and costco wholesale corporation cost the case for bj’s this company’s roots can be traced back to the massachusetts discount department store chain zayre in 1984 the bj’s name was a tribute to company president mervyn weich’s daughter beverly jean the company was publicly traded before its 2011 acquisition by the private equity firms leonard green  partners and cvc capital partners and it returned to being publicly traded in 2018 today the westborough massachusettsbased bjs focuses on the eastern half of the us with 229 wholesale clubs and 160 branded gas stations in 17 states on june 10 announced plans for new clubs in noblesville indiana new albany ohio wayne new jersey and midlothian virginia in other corporate developments the company recently partnered with doordash inc dash to offer ondemand grocery delivery from its location making it the first wholesale club available on the doordash marketplace and in january it acquired the assets and operations of four distribution centers and the related private transportation fleet from longtime partner burris logistics in its most recent earnings data the firstquarter results published on may 19 bj’s reported total revenue of 44 billion up from 38 billion one year earlier and net income of 1124 million versus the previous year’s 815 million the adjusted earnings per share of 87 cents were up from the first quarter of 2021’s 72 cents bj’s also noted that its firstquarter total comparable club sales increased by 144 yearoveryear while its comparable club sales excluding gasoline sales were up 41 yearoveryear the company’s membership fee income increased by 119 to 966 million yearoveryear “our performance in the first quarter was strong as gains in member traffic underscored the value we provide” said president and ceo bob eddy “our business model remains more relevant than ever in the current inflationary environment … our membership has never been stronger we reached 65 million members in the first quarter which serves as a testament to the value that we consistently deliver to our members” bj’s shares opened for trading today at 6013 the company’s 52week trading range is 4554 to 7409 the case for costco this company’s roots were deep in the soil of revenge in 1975 sol price was forced out of fedmart a membersonly discount store that he founded and the following year he created the rival business called price club as a retail warehouse club the company went public in 1980 expanded into canada in 1986 and mexico in 1992 before its 1993 merger with the small seattlebased costco which had been operating for 10 years today costco operates 830 warehouses including 574 in the us and puerto rico 105 in canada 40 in mexico 30 in japan 29 in the uk 16 in korea 14 in taiwan 13 in australia four in spain two each in france and china and one in iceland costco also operates ecommerce sites in the us canada the uk mexico korea taiwan japan and australia in recent corporate developments costco is being sued by legal impact for chickens an animal rights group that accused the company of “illegal neglect and abandonment” of animals at its nebraska chicken processing plant the lawsuit claimed costco has been breeding chickens that are too big to stand and die from poor health and starvation in canada costco announced this week that it had 50 job opportunities across the country ranging from noncustomer facing to entrylevel positions the average costco salary in canada is c26 per hour with fulltime warehouse clerks earning up to c70000 a year plus benefits in its most recent earnings data the fiscal year thirdquarter results published on may 26 costco reported total revenue of 525 billion up from 452 billion one year earlier and net income of 135 billion versus 12 billion from the previous year the 305 basic earnings per common share were higher than the 275 from fiscal year thirdquarter 2021 costco also reported that its thirdquarter membership fee income was 984 million versus last years 901 million and its comparable sales for the quarter were up by 166 in the us up by 1525 in canada and up 57 in its foreign markets but the company also noted that the current economic condition is having an impact on its corporate decisions “given the current macro environment the historically high inflation and the burden its having on our members and all consumers in general we think increasing our membership fee today ahead of our typical timing is not the right time” said bob nelson senior vice president of finance and investor relations on the thirdquarter earnings call “we will let you know however when that changes” costco shares opened for trading today at 46311 its 52week range is 38656 to 61227 the verdict while both bj’s and costco are in a solid financial position they are also moving into a quarter where inflation is at historic highs and the biden administration is angrily insisting the nation is not moving into a recession while economists are politely disagreeing with that notion this could be either a blessing or a curse for the two companies the pricing of merchandise especially with their gas stations could work to their advantage but at the same time a decrease in consumer spending could result in all corporate ships sinking in inflationary waters costco would be in a more vulnerable position because it is also dealing with european and asian economies that tend to buckle or worse during recessionary periods while both companies are on solid footing at the moment this stock wars duel gives the nod to bj’s for three reasons the doordash deal is a major coup for this sector the quickmoving expansion of its footprint shows a nimbleness that is not immediately obvious with costco and its relatively lowpriced shares compared to costco could be a bargain for longhaul investors today of course it will be interesting to revisit these companies a year from now when many economists believe that a recession will be fully underway