A Walmart in Atlanta, Georgia, on Sunday, Feb. 19, 2023.
Dustin Chambers | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Walmart raised its full-year forecast Thursday, as fiscal first-quarter sales rose nearly 8% and its large grocery business helped offset weaker sales of clothing and electronics.
Shares rose in premarket trading as the discounter beat Wall Street’s earnings and revenue expectations. Walmart lifted its guidance to reflect the earnings beat. It said it now anticipates consolidated net sales will rise about 3.5% in the fiscal year. It expects adjusted earnings per share for the full year will be between $6.10 and $6.20.
Chief Financial Officer John David Rainey said consumers are trading down to smaller pack sizes, buying fewer discretionary items and waiting for promotions before making pricey purchases like TVs.
Yet shoppers are still spending, he added.
“We’re seeing in these economic indicators that there is some strain on the consumer, but the resilience has surprised us,” he told CNBC. “And I think that’s in part probably because balance sheets are much stronger than they were pre-pandemic, even at this point.”
Here’s what Walmart reported for the three-month period that ended April 30, according to Refinitiv consensus estimates:
- Earnings per share: $1.47 adjusted vs. $1.32 expected
- Revenue: $152.30 vs. $148.76 billion expected
Net income for the big-box retailer fell to $1.67 billion, or 62 cents per share, compared with $2.05 billion, or 74 cents per share, a year earlier.
Total revenue rose to $152.30 billion from $141.57 billion in the year-ago period, beating Wall Street’s expectations.
Same-store sales for Walmart U.S. rose 7.4%, excluding fuel. The key industry metric includes sales from stores and clubs open for at least a year. E-commerce sales jumped 27% year over year for Walmart U.S.
Despite the sales growth, Rainey said spending trends weakened as the quarter went on, with the sharpest drop after February. He attributed that, in part, to the end of…
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