Retail behemoth Walmart (NYSE: WMT) will be reporting results tomorrow morning. Here’s what investors should know.
Walmart met analysts’ revenue expectations last quarter, reporting revenues of $180.6 billion, up 4.1% year on year. It was a slower quarter for the company, with full-year EPS guidance missing analysts’ expectations.
Is Walmart a buy or sell going into earnings? Read our full analysis here, it’s free.
This quarter, analysts are expecting Walmart’s revenue to grow 2.8% year on year to $166 billion, slowing from the 6% increase it recorded in the same quarter last year. Adjusted earnings are expected to come in at $0.58 per share.
Analysts covering the company have generally reconfirmed their estimates over the last 30 days, suggesting they anticipate the business to stay the course heading into earnings. Walmart has missed Wall Street’s revenue estimates twice over the last two years.
Looking at Walmart’s peers in the non-discretionary retail segment, some have already reported their Q1 results, giving us a hint as to what we can expect. Sprouts delivered year-on-year revenue growth of 18.7%, beating analysts’ expectations by 1.4%, and Grocery Outlet reported revenues up 8.5%, in line with consensus estimates. Sprouts’s stock price was unchanged after the results, while Grocery Outlet was down 5.9%.
Read our full analysis of Sprouts’s results here and Grocery Outlet’s results here.
There has been positive sentiment among investors in the non-discretionary retail segment, with share prices up 15.9% on average over the last month. Walmart is up 2% during the same time and is heading into earnings with an average analyst price target of $107.33 (compared to the current share price of $95.88).
When a company has more cash than it knows what to do with, buying back its own shares can make a lot of sense–as long as the price is right. Luckily, we’ve found one, a low-priced stock that is gushing free cash flow AND buying back shares. Click here to claim your Special Free Report on a fallen angel growth story that is already recovering from a setback.
