Shares in Walmart (WMT) cheapened 3% to $123.1 in pre-market Wall Street trading after the world’s biggest retailer forecast weaker-than-expected FY27 earnings.
The groceries-to-general merchandise seller’s conservative guidance overshadowed a Q4 earnings beat.
| Share price: $123.1 (-3%) | PE: 44.3 |
| Market cap: $1.01trn | Yield: 0.7% |
Alongside other consumer staples, the Bentonville-based behemoth has offered a safe haven for investors during recent bouts of market volatility. The shares have tested fresh highs this year, taking Walmart’s market cap above $1trillion for the first time.
In its first results presented by new CEO John Furner, Walmart reported Q4 FY26 adjusted earnings per share of $0.74.
That was a smidge ahead of the $0.73 Wall Street was calling for. Quarterly revenue ticked up 5.6% to $190.7 billion.
US same-store sales grew 4.6%, slightly higher than estimates of 4.3%, amid continued growth in customer transactions and e-commerce strength.
A 4.7% rise in full-year revenue to $713.2 billion included 46% growth in Walmart’s global advertising business to almost $6.4 billion.
Conservative guide
Unfortunately, Walmart guided for Q1 FY27 revenue growth in the 3.5% to 4.5% range and adjusted earnings of $0.63 to $0.65, both shy of Wall Street expectations.
For FY27, the retail colossus expects revenue to increase in the 3.5% to 4.5% range and to deliver adjusted earnings of $2.75 to $2.85.
That guidance undershot the near-5% sales growth and adjusted earnings of $2.97 analysts expected.
Elite club
‘The pace of change in retail is accelerating,’ commented Furner. ‘It’s exciting. And our financial results show that we’re not only embracing this change, we’re leading it. For our customers and members, the future is fast, convenient, and personalized.’
In crossing the $1 trillion threshold, Walmart joined an elite club dominated by tech giants including Alphabet (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT) and Nvidia (NVDA).
Read the press release here: https://corporate.walmart.com/content/corporate/en_us/news.html
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