Walmart Beats The Street (In A Big Way)

Walmart’s Q1 earnings are in — and the company’s sales, earnings and revenues managed to notably outpace analyst expectations and notch results that have sent their stock prices soaring.

Walmart’s first quarter results denote a seventh straight quarter of U.S. comparable sales growth, which sent battered shares up 10 percent in pre-market trading. That growth comes as Walmart has been raising wages, building out eCommerce infrastructure, redesigning some of its stores and better real-time inventory demand so what’s on the shelves actually matches customer demand.

Comparable sales — sales minus the impact of newly closed or opened stores — were up one percent in Q1, and foot traffic was on the rise for the sixth straight quarter.

“It’s exciting to see the improvement in core retail fundamentals,” Walmart Stores CEO Doug McMillon said on a prerecorded call. The better inventory management, along with the higher wages and training are giving “our associates more time on the sales floor to serve customers.” That, he said, was lifting consumer scores.
The news, however, was not all great since the big miss (or at lest tepid area) was Walmart’s eCommerce growth, which was only up at 7 percent. That is their slowest pace ever — and according to their CEO it is “too slow.”

Walmart reported net income of 98 cents per share, well above the 88 cents Wall Street was expecting. Total revenue for the period came to $115.9 billion, again well above the analyst forecasts for $112.67 billion.
Walmart’s results come at a time when retailer after retailer has spent the last few weeks reporting exactly how fast they ran into the blade during Q1. In a bit of perhaps double good news – while Walmart is reporting signs of strength in a limping retail marketplace, its archrival Target found itself on the Butcher’s Bill with a week Q1 report.