Walmart (NYSE: WMT) delivered second quarter revenue of $187.9 billion, topping analyst estimates of $186.8 billion and representing 5.9% year-on-year growth.
Adjusted earnings per share came in at $0.81, beating Wall Street’s estimate of $0.74 by 9.3%, yet shares fell from $114.30 to $104.26 following the report.
CEO John Furner called the period “the best second quarter we’ve had in the last 3 years,” while acknowledging that continued price and customer experience investments remain critical to holding market share.
Softer health and wellness sales, driven partly by regulatory pricing changes, weighed on comparable store sales, which rose 3.1% year-on-year, down from 4.8% in the same quarter last year.
Management raised its full-year adjusted EPS guidance to $2.84 at the midpoint, a 1.3% increase, though Q3 revenue guidance of $185.6 billion came in below analyst expectations of $188.3 billion.
Goldman Sachs analyst Katharine McShane pressed management on how Walmart plans to sustain lower prices once tariff refunds are exhausted, with Furner explaining that price investments are carefully managed for maximum return and made permanent where they deliver share gains.
Morgan Stanley’s Simeon Gutman questioned the impact of higher fuel prices on lower-income consumers, with CFO Rainey noting that while unit growth is immediate, the full sales benefit of price rollbacks accumulates over time.
Gregory Melich of Evercore ISI asked about future tariff rate assumptions and operating income growth, with Rainey confirming that projections are based on current tariff and fuel levels, and that profit growth is increasingly led by platform businesses.
KeyBanc Capital Markets analyst Bradley Thomas raised concerns about the health and wellness category amid regulatory headwinds, with segment head David Guggina arguing that pharmacy customers are highly valuable and that ongoing convenience investments should deepen their long-term engagement.
Deutsche Bank’s Krisztina Katai sought details on the return and payback timeline of incremental rollbacks, with Furner confirming that rollbacks are tracked for unit and share gains, and permanence is determined by performance metrics.
Walmart operates 11,000 locations globally as of the end of the quarter, up from 10,797 in the same period last year, reflecting the company’s continued investment in physical retail footprint.
E-commerce, marketplace, and membership programs were cited by management as the primary growth drivers, with the scaling of high-margin digital businesses like advertising representing a key area of focus heading into the second half of the year.
The company’s market capitalization stands at $838.6 billion, with investors and analysts alike watching closely for signs that broad-based price rollbacks will translate into sustained traffic and unit growth in coming quarters.
