Stock Story -
Retail behemoth Walmart (NYSE:WMT) will be reporting results tomorrow before the bell. Here's what investors should know.
Walmart beat analysts' revenue expectations by 2.4% last quarter, reporting revenues of $173.4 billion, up 5.7% year on year. It was an impressive quarter for the company, with a solid beat of analysts' revenue and EPS estimates.
Is Walmart a buy or sell going into earnings? Find out by reading the original article on StockStory, it's free.
This quarter, analysts are expecting Walmart's revenue to grow 3.8% year on year to $158.1 billion, slowing from the 7.6% increase it recorded in the same quarter last year. Adjusted earnings are expected to come in at $0.52 per share.
The majority of analysts covering the company have reconfirmed their estimates over the last 30 days, suggesting they anticipate the business to stay the course heading into earnings. Walmart has a history of exceeding Wall Street's expectations, beating revenue estimates every single time over the past two years by 2.5% on average.
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. Grocery Outlet (NASDAQ:GO) delivered year-on-year revenue growth of 7.4%, beating analysts' expectations by 1.4%, and Sprouts reported revenues up 8.7%, topping estimates by 1.9%. Grocery Outlet traded down 19.5% following the results while Sprouts was up 12%.
Read the full analysis of Grocery Outlet's and Sprouts's results on StockStory.
There has been positive sentiment among investors in the non-discretionary retail segment, with share prices up 15.5% on average over the last month. Walmart's stock price was unchanged during the same time and is heading into earnings with an average analyst price target of $65.5 (compared to the current share price of $59.95).