Costco (NASDAQ: COST) is hitting it out of the park right now despite the difficult retail backdrop. What does Costco do? Before getting into Costco's financial performance, it is important to understand the business.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ: COST) has been a dominant player in the retail space for decades. For its shareholders, the results have been even more impressive. Over the past five years, Costco's stock performance has outpaced the S&P 500 by nearly 150 percentage points.

As an employee, I think the tiramisu cheesecake, Essentia water, and Igloo cooler bags are some of the best things to get at Costco right now.