Walmart earnings beat estimates, but company offers cautious outlook amid 'somewhat unstable' backdrop

Walmart (WMT) posted quarterly net connected Thursday greeting that somewhat bushed Wall Street's estimates, giving a readout connected the cardinal vacation buying play successful its archetypal study nether caller CEO John Furner.

The retailer, whose marketplace headdress precocious eclipsed $1 trillion for the archetypal time, reported adjusted net per stock of $0.74 successful the period, the 4th fourth of its fiscal twelvemonth 2026. That was a interaction higher than the Street forecast of $0.73, per Bloomberg statement data.

Revenue accrued 5.6% to $190.7 billion, fundamentally successful enactment with Wall Street's predictions of $190.6 billion.

For fiscal twelvemonth 2026, Walmart posted results somewhat supra estimates. Revenue came successful astatine $715.9 billion, and not including currency speech rates, it came successful enactment with estimates astatine $713.2 compared to Wall Street's forecast of $713 billion. Adjusted net per stock came successful astatine $2.64, a cent higher than expected. Last year, Amazon surpassed Walmart successful yearly gross for the archetypal time, with full income coming successful astatine $717 billion.

Shares of Walmart were up 1% successful Thursday's premarket trade. The banal is up much than 13% twelvemonth to date.

Investors volition apt instrumentality a 2nd look astatine Walmart's somewhat blimpish guidance.

For the archetypal quarter, the institution expects gross to turn 3.5-4.5% and adjusted per-share net to tally $0.63-$0.65. That outlook undershoots the 5% maturation and adjusted net of $0.69 that Wall Street expected.

For fiscal twelvemonth 2027, the retail elephantine expects gross to summation by 3.5%-4.5%, alongside adjusted net of $2.75-$2.85. That's besides blimpish compared with the astir 5% maturation Wall Street predicted, alongside adjusted net of $2.97 a share.

CFO John David Rainey told investors connected the call, "Our extremity is to outperform this guidance, but we judge it's prudent to commencement the twelvemonth with a level of conservatism fixed the backdrop is inactive somewhat unstable."

While Rainey said "nothing" is antithetic erstwhile it comes to user behaviour oregon the macroeconomic backdrop, and flagged indicators specified arsenic a hiring slowdown, mediocre user sentiment, oregon different indebtedness burdens similar pupil loans that could measurement connected results.

He besides hinted astatine imaginable increases to guidance passim the year, noting that Walmart has raised its guidance each twelvemonth implicit the past 3 years.

In its US business, quarterly same-store income grew 4.6%, somewhat higher than estimates of 4.3%. The maturation was driven by e-commerce strength, higher summons sizes, and a larger-than-expected 2.6% uptick successful transactions.