Walmart heads into official start of holiday season with strong momentum after robust 3Q results

NEW YORK — Walmart is heading into the official start of the holiday shopping season with strong tailwinds after ratcheting up better-than-expected fiscal third-quarter sales in many items including toys, home goods and groceries.

The robust results, announced Tuesday, underscore how Walmart's comparatively low prices have become a powerful draw for shoppers seeking to cut spending where they could in a still inflationary environment.

The nation’s largest retailer, based in Bentonville, Arkansas, also raised its outlook. The company's shares rose more than 4%, or $3.67, to $87.75 in morning trading, after reaching an all-time high of $88.29 earlier.

“We’re encouraged by the steady momentum building across the business,” Walmart's Chief Financial Officer John David Rainey told analysts during Tuesday's earnings call.

Walmart is among the first major U.S. retailer to report quarterly results and provides a peek into how Americans are feeling as they head into the holiday season. Rainey told The Associated Press during a call on Tuesday that shoppers are spending more on food than general merchandise, and they're becoming more discerning when it comes to big-ticket items like TVs.

One of the most challenging parts of the business has been the clothing business, dragged down by unseasonably warm weather that has made it hard to sell sweaters and coats, Rainey said.

Industry analysts expect consumers to show up in force, though sales may not meet last year spending levels by Americans.

A post-pandemic inflation spike sent prices about 20% higher overall compared with three years ago and it soured Americans’ outlook on the economy, a key reason given by voters for sending Donald Trump back to the White House.

Yet even as many complained of how costs have strained household budgets, strong consumer spending continues to drive steady growth in the U.S. economy. Retail sales rose 0.4% from September to October, the Commerce Department said Friday, a solid increase though it was half of the previous month’s jump.

Walmart reported net income of $4.58 billion, or 57 cents per share, in the three months ended Oct. 31. That compares with $4.53 billion, or 6 cents per share, in the year-ago period.

Adjusted earnings were 58 cents per share, 5 cents better than Wall Street had expected, according to a survey by FactSet.

Sales rose 5.5% to $169.59 billion, up from $160.8 billion in the year-ago period, and also easily beat analyst projections.

Comparable store sales — which include online and stores open for the past 12 months — rose 5.3% in the U.S. That is an acceleration from the 4.2% jump in the U.S. in the second quarter and 3.8% in the first quarter.

Sales reflect broad-based strength across all product categories and physical and digital channels, the company said.

The number of transactions and the average amount customers spent during each of those transactions was higher in this quarter than it was during the same three months last year. Walmart said its market share gain continues to be driven by higher income households making more than $100,000 a year.

Global e-commerce sales rose 27%, compared with 21% in the fiscal second and first quarter.

Analysts are also sifting through Walmart’s results and other retailers' results regarding Trump’s proposed tariffs. Trump has vowed that he’ll put a 60% tariff on goods from China — and a tariff of up to 20% on everything else the United States imports.

Companies have already rerouted some production away from China, but an aggressive trade policy could accelerate those plans. Rainey told The Associated Press that the company over the past few weeks has moved up some imports to brace for any new tariffs or potential port strikes in January. Rainey noted that two-thirds of what Walmart sells is made or grown in the U.S., but it will feel pressure to raise prices if Trump's tariffs are implemented.

“Tariffs will be inflationary for customers,” he said.

Shoe brand Steve Madden announced earlier this month that it will be be cutting the goods that it imports from China by as much as 45% next year.

For the current fiscal year, Walmart expects earnings per share in the range of $2.42 to $2.47. That’s up from its August projections for per-share earnings of between $2.35 and $2.43. Analysts expect $2.45 per share, according to FactSet.

The company also expects sales to increase by 4.8% to 5.1% for the year, up from a range of 3.75% to 4.75%.