Breaking: Walmart Set To Report Earnings Before the BellWalmart will report fiscal fourth-quarter earnings before the bell on Thursday.
Walmart (NYSE: NYSE:WMT ) will report its latest quarterly earnings before the bell on Thursday, as investors try to parse whether softer retail sales in January were a blip or a bigger warning sign.
As Walmart (NYSE: NYSE:WMT ) is the top grocer in the U.S., investors often view it as a pivot of consumer health. The company will report its holiday-season results and is expected to give a forecast for the year ahead. Its leaders may also preview how they see the economic backdrop in the U.S. and weigh in on the potential effect of federal policy decisions, such as tariffs.
According to a survey of analysts by LSEG, here’s what Wall Street expects for the big-box retailer’s fiscal fourth quarter,:
Earnings per share: 64 cents
Revenue: $180.01 billion
Retail sales for January came in weaker than expected, setting off alarm bells for some investors. The metric dropped 0.9% for the month, which was below the Dow Jones estimate for a 0.2% decline.
Holiday data came in strong across the retail industry, as sales rose 3.8% year over year to total $964.4 billion in November and December, according to the National Retail Federation. The trend reflected a return to more typical pre-pandemic gains. Average sales growth during the holiday season was 3.6% from 2010 to 2019, according to NRF data, but shot up during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Some unique factors could work in Walmart’s favor, regardless of the economic backdrop. The big-box retailer’s online sales have been climbing, with 10 straight quarters of double-digit gains. Its advertising business and third-party marketplace are small compared to Amazon’s, but the segments have posted gains and driven higher margins than Walmart’s retail business.
Furthermore, Walmart has attracted more customers with higher incomes. Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said in November that households earning more than $100,000 drove 75% of market share gains in the third quarter.
Simeon Gutman, a retail analyst for Morgan Stanley, raised Walmart’s price target to $153 on Tuesday, pointing to the retailer’s newer and more profitable moneymakers including its advertising business and subscription-based membership program Walmart+.
Technical Outlook
As of Wednesday’s close, shares of Walmart are up about 83% over the past year. Shares closed on Wednesday at $104.00, up about 15% so far this year and outpacing the approximately 4% gains of the S&P 500 during the same period.
As of the time of writing, NYSE:WMT is trading down 0.54% on Thursday's premarket trading. NYSE:WMT ' shares has an RSI of 70 which is somewhat oversold but it hints at a potential bullish surge amidst a falling wedge pattern and as traders awaits earnings reports, a positive earnings beat could send NYSE:WMT on a bullish spree similarly, should selling pressure surmount, the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement level is serving as support point for Walmart shares (NYSE: NYSE:WMT )
