Walmart Beats Handily On First-Quarter Earnings Per Share, Revenue

Walmart Inc. WMT on Tuesday reported first-quarter fiscal 2022 revenue of $138.7 billion, a 2.7% increase from the 2020 first quarter, while operating income rose 32% to $6.9 billion in what the company called strong across-the-board performance.

Adjusted earnings per share came in at $1.69, easily beating analysts' median estimates of $1.21 a share. Revenue came in more than $6 billion higher than expectations. Shares were up 3.5% in premarket trading.

Walmart's U.S. e-commerce sales rose 37% year-on-year, with sales more than doubling in the past two years, the company said. U.S. operating income rose 26.8 year-on-year, the company said.

In a statement, Walmart President and CEO Doug McMillon said the company is more optimistic about the full-year outlook than it was at the start of 2021. To support that view, Walmart raised full-year guidance for several metrics. It now expects consolidated operating income, which includes the U.S. and international operations, as well as its Sam's Club warehouse stores, to increase by mid-single-digit levels in constant currency. Its prior guidance was for a slight decline in constant currency. Earnings per share is now forecast to rise in the high single digits. Prior guidance was for a slight decline. 

Walmart also sharpened its forecast for companywide revenue, saying it will decline by low-single-digit levels in constant currency. Its prior guidance wasn't that specific. Walmart expects "continued pent-up demand" in consumption as more people in the U.S. and around the world get vaccinated from COVID-19 and more countries reopen their economies.

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