 | Photo: Fox Business |
| Walmart just dropped quarterly results that look good on paper, but the market reaction? Slightly cold. And that contrast is where the real story lives. 🧊 | The retail giant reported fiscal Q4 revenue of $190.66 billion and adjusted EPS of $0.74, both narrowly beating Wall Street expectations, while holiday sales climbed nearly 6% and US comparable sales rose 4.6%. | Even more impressive (at least from a financial take), US e-commerce surged 27% year-over-year, marking its 15th straight quarter of double-digit digital growth. 📈 | What I personally found interesting is that higher-income shoppers are increasingly heading to Walmart for value, which is quietly boosting margins and market share, especially in certain categories like fashion. | Meanwhile, inflation inside Walmart's ecosystem remained just above 1%, signaling strong pricing power and supply chain efficiency compared to its peers. (Psst… for investors, that's a big macro-positive indicator!) 💸 | But here's where the sparkle dims a little. | Net income actually fell to $4.24 billion from $5.25 billion a year earlier, and the full-year earnings outlook of $2.75–$2.85 per share came in below analyst expectations of $2.96. | So, technically growth is solid, but profitability expansion is slowing. 📉 | Markets noticed. Shares of Walmart (WMT) fell about 1.38% yesterday, closing at $124.87, despite being up roughly 20% over the past year. But that dip reflects investor concern about the future more than the present. | And then came another major headline. | Amazon has officially overtaken Walmart as the world's largest company by annual revenue — $717 billion versus Walmart's $713 billion. | Financially, that matters because Amazon's diversified revenue streams (AWS, advertising, subscriptions) generate higher-margin income compared to Walmart's retail-heavy model, where over 90% of revenue still comes from just shopping. 📦 | Walmart is clearly trying to adjust for this though. Its advertising arm, marketplace, and store-fulfilled delivery model are scaling fast, and the newly authorized $30 billion share buyback signals confidence in long-term cash flow strength. | So, what's next? | Expect Walmart's new leadership to double down on its efforts to close the gap with Amazon. Retail is it's core so that's where it'll continue to excel. 🛍️ | Meanwhile, Amazon's likely to remain a leader because honestly, it's much more than a retailer to begin with. |
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