Soon, you’re going to need a coupon to afford Walmart stock.
Shares of the retail giant rose 2.96% today, boosting it to a new all-time high.
The jump came as the seller of the onesie that turns your child into a mop reported another great quarter.
- Adjusted earnings per share came in at $0.58, beating the $0.53 forecast by analysts.
- Revenue jumped 5% year over year to reach $169.59 billion, outpacing the $167.72 billion analysts expected.
- Net income increased from $0.06 per share a year ago to $0.57 per share this quarter.
- Walmart raised its outlook, too, projecting sales will grow between 4.8% and 5.1% for the full year, higher than its previous forecast of between 3.75% and 4.75%.
What’s going so right? Executives pointed out that customers are shopping online more and more (e-commerce sales rose 22%), and are willing to splash out to get their products delivered faster. And despite persistent inflation, Walmart has been able to keep prices on key products low, drawing in bargain shoppers.
CFO John David Rainey also told CNBC that sales of general merchandise, excluding groceries, grew for the second straight quarter—after declining for 11 quarters straight.
“They’re focused on price and value,” he said of Walmart customers.
A holiday bellwether
Even though the holidays haven’t even begun, Rainey said that the retail behemoth was already off to a “good start.”
As the largest US company by revenue, the rest of the retail industry closely watches Walmart to get a sense of whether they’ll be riding the sleigh all the way to the bank this holiday season or landing on investors’ naughty list.
Walmart isn’t the only indicator, of course. The National Retail Federation projects that holiday spending will increase this year between 2.5% and 3.5% from last year. While an increase, those numbers are actually lower than the previous spending jump from 2022 to 2023 of 3.9%.
Despite fears that progress fighting inflation has stalled, Walmart’s earnings show that Americans are back and doing what they do best—spending.
But while the holiday season is always a boon for retailers, Rainey also warned that President-elect Trump’s suggested tariffs could force them to raise prices—an ominous warning for shoppers already weary from years of inflation.
Just when you think you’ve overcome an economic hurdle, there’s always more chaos in the aisles ahead.—LB
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