A Walmart store in Martínez, California, on November 18, 2024.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty images
Walmart He will inform his latest quarterly gains before Thursday's bell, since investors try to analyze whether the softer retail sales were a blip or a larger warning signal.
As Walmart is the best shopkeeper in the United States, investors often see it as a consumer health barometer. The company will report its holiday season results and it is expected to give a forecast for the following year. Their leaders can also obtain a preview of how they see the economic context in the United States and evaluate the potential effect of federal policy decisions, such as tariffs.
This is what Wall Street expects for the fourth fiscal quarter of the Big-Box retailer, according to an LSEG analysts survey:
- Profit per action: 64 cents
- Revenue: $ 180.01 billion
Retail sales for January were weaker than expected, activating alarms for some investors. The metric fell 0.9% for the month, which was below the estimation of Dow Jones for a 0.2% decrease.
Restaurant chains, including Burger King and Popeyes of restaurant brands, also had weak trends in January even though they said sales improved in the fourth quarter.
However, these restaurants and some retail experts have blamed the short -term factors of the fall, including winter storms, consumers take a break after waste during the holidays and contain damages and interruptions of the forest fires of Los Angeles .
The holiday data were strong throughout the retail industry, since sales increased 3.8% year after 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-candid gains. The average sales growth during the holiday season was 3.6% from 2010 to 2019, according to NRF data, but shot during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Some unique factors could work in favor of Walmart, regardless of the economic background curtain. Online sales of the Big-Box retailer have been climbing, with 10 consecutive two-digit earnings rooms. Its advertising business and its third -party market are small compared to that of Amazon, but the segments have published profits and promoted higher margins than the Walmart retail business.
In addition, Walmart has attracted more customers with higher income. The Walmart CEO, Doug McMillon, said in November that households that earned more than $ 100,000 promoted 75% of market share profits in the third quarter.
Some investors have increased Walmart expectations. Simeon Gutman, a retail analyst at Morgan Stanley, raised the target price of Walmart to $ 153 on Tuesday, pointing to the new and profitable money manufacturers of the retailer, including his membership program based on the advertising and subscription business, Walmart+.
As of Wednesday, Walmart's shares rose around 83% during the past year. The shares closed on Wednesday at $ 104.00, an increase of 15% so far this year and exceeded approximately 4% of the S&P 500 during the same period.
