Walmart (NASDAQ:WMT) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.07 EPS

Walmart (NASDAQ:WMT) released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The retailer reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.07, Zacks reports. Walmart had a net margin of 3.13% and a return on equity of 21.25%. The company had revenue of $187.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $186.62 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.68 earnings per share. Walmart’s revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. Walmart updated its Q3 2027 guidance to 0.620-0.640 EPS and its FY 2027 guidance to 2.800-2.870 EPS.

Here are the key takeaways from Walmart’s conference call:

• Walmart raised its full-year guidance, increasing sales growth expectations to 4%-5%, operating income growth to 7%-8.5%, and adjusted EPS to $2.80-$2.87, reflecting confidence in sustained market-share gains.
• The company delivered broad-based momentum, including 5% constant-currency sales growth, 23% global eCommerce growth, 38% advertising growth, 52% U.S. Marketplace growth, and nearly 17% membership-income growth.
• Walmart said its digital businesses are becoming more profitable, with Walmart U.S. eCommerce generating double-digit incremental margins in the first half, supported by advertising, membership, delivery density, fulfillment services, and automation.
• Results and near-term profitability benefited materially from tariff refunds, while Walmart is reinvesting much of the benefit into lower prices; management expects Q3 operating income growth to moderate to 2%-4% as these investments flow through.
• Higher fuel prices are expected to add more than $2 billion in costs this year, while Maximum Fair Price drug regulations are now projected to create a roughly 125-basis-point headwind to Walmart U.S. full-year comparable sales.

Walmart Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WMT opened at $103.84 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $113.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $121.39. Walmart has a fifty-two week low of $95.42 and a fifty-two week high of $135.15. The company has a market capitalization of $826.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.44, a P/E/G ratio of 4.27 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.77.

Key Headlines Impacting Walmart

Here are the key news stories impacting Walmart this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Walmart reported adjusted earnings of $0.81 per share and revenue of $187.94 billion, exceeding consensus estimates of $0.74 and $186.62 billion, respectively. Revenue increased 5.9% year over year. Walmart quarterly earnings report
• Positive Sentiment: Growth businesses remained strong: global e-commerce sales rose 23%, advertising revenue increased 38% and global membership revenue grew 17%. Gross-profit margin also improved, helped partly by tariff-related benefits. Walmart revenue growth release
• Positive Sentiment: Management raised its full-year fiscal 2027 outlook and expects to use approximately $2.9 billion in tariff refunds to support price cuts, potentially strengthening Walmart’s value proposition with financially pressured shoppers. Walmart tariff refund price cuts
• Neutral Sentiment: Some analysts view the selloff as a potential entry point, citing Walmart’s scale, international operations, digital growth, advertising business and margin gains. However, its roughly 36 times earnings valuation leaves less room for execution disappointments. Walmart post-earnings buying opportunity
• Negative Sentiment: U.S. comparable sales increased just 2.6%, below expectations near 3.5% and the weakest growth in more than six years. Investors interpreted the result as evidence that higher energy costs and inflation are forcing consumers to reduce or reprioritize spending. Reuters Walmart sales miss article
• Negative Sentiment: Fiscal third-quarter guidance was below Wall Street expectations: EPS of $0.62–$0.64 versus an estimated $0.68, and revenue of $183.1–$184.5 billion versus approximately $188.2 billion expected. The timing of Flipkart’s promotional event is also expected to reduce quarterly sales growth by more than 100 basis points. Investopedia Walmart guidance article
• Negative Sentiment: Gordon Haskett downgraded Walmart from “buy” to “accumulate,” reinforcing concerns that the stock’s premium valuation is vulnerable to slower U.S. sales growth and margin pressure from price investments.

Insider Transactions at Walmart

In related news, EVP Christopher James Nicholas sold 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.19, for a total value of $342,751.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 574,953 shares in the company, valued at $67,953,695.07. This represents a 0.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP David W. Guggina sold 11,978 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.82, for a total value of $1,435,203.96. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 125,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,985,527.94. This trade represents a 8.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 54,164 shares of company stock worth $6,389,402. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Walmart

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WMT. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Walmart by 5.1% in the third quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc. now owns 216,793 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $22,343,000 after acquiring an additional 10,525 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in Walmart by 28.8% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 98,150 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $8,868,000 after acquiring an additional 21,939 shares during the period. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. boosted its position in Walmart by 1.2% in the second quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 91,341 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $8,931,000 after purchasing an additional 1,048 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in Walmart by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 8,849 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $800,000 after buying an additional 485 shares during the period. Finally, Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its position in Walmart by 0.9% during the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 13,008 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,272,000 after buying an additional 116 shares during the period. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on WMT shares. Truist Financial set a $140.00 target price on Walmart in a report on Thursday, May 21st. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Walmart in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and set a $150.00 price target on shares of Walmart in a research report on Monday. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $155.00 price target (up from $150.00) on shares of Walmart in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Walmart in a report on Monday, May 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have given a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Walmart presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $138.26.

Walmart Company Profile

Walmart is a multinational retail corporation that operates a broad portfolio of store formats and digital services. Its core business includes large-format supercenters, discount department stores, neighborhood grocery stores and a membership warehouse chain, Sam’s Club. The company’s merchandising mix covers groceries, household goods, apparel, electronics and pharmacy services, supplemented by private-label products and category-specific offerings. Walmart pairs its physical store network with online platforms and mobile applications to provide omnichannel shopping, fulfillment and delivery options for consumers and businesses.

The company was founded by Sam Walton, who opened the first store in Rogers, Arkansas in 1962; it is headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas.