Futures
Access hundreds of perpetual contracts
CFD
Gold
One platform for global traditional assets
Options
Hot
Trade European-style vanilla options
Unified Account
Maximize your capital efficiency
Demo Trading
Introduction to Futures Trading
Learn the basics of futures trading
Futures Events
Join events to earn rewards
Demo Trading
Use virtual funds to practice risk-free trading
Launch
CandyDrop
Collect candies to earn airdrops
Launchpool
Quick staking, earn potential new tokens
HODLer Airdrop
Hold GT and get massive airdrops for free
Pre-IPOs
Unlock full access to global stock IPOs
Alpha Points
Trade on-chain assets and earn airdrops
Futures Points
Earn futures points and claim airdrop rewards
Promotions
AI
Gate AI
Your all-in-one conversational AI partner
Gate AI Bot
Use Gate AI directly in your social App
GateClaw
Gate Blue Lobster, ready to go
Gate for AI Agent
AI infrastructure, Gate MCP, Skills, and CLI
Gate Skills Hub
10K+ Skills
From office tasks to trading, the all-in-one skill hub makes AI even more useful.
GateRouter
Smartly choose from 40+ AI models, with 0% extra fees
Walmart earnings beat estimates, but company offers cautious outlook amid 'somewhat unstable' backdrop
Walmart earnings beat estimates, but company offers cautious outlook amid ‘somewhat unstable’ backdrop
Brooke DiPalma · Senior Reporter
Thu, February 19, 2026 at 11:22 PM GMT+9 3 min read
In this article:
WMT
+1.92%
AMZN
-0.00%
Walmart (WMT) posted quarterly earnings on Thursday morning that slightly beat Wall Street’s estimates, giving a readout on the key holiday shopping season in its first report under new CEO John Furner.
The retailer, whose market cap recently eclipsed $1 trillion for the first time, reported adjusted earnings per share of $0.74 in the period, the fourth quarter of its fiscal year 2026. That was a touch higher than the Street forecast of $0.73, per Bloomberg consensus data.
Revenue increased 5.6% to $190.7 billion, basically in line with Wall Street’s predictions of $190.6 billion.
For fiscal year 2026, Walmart posted results slightly above estimates. Revenue came in at $715.9 billion, and not including currency exchange rates, it came in line with estimates at $713.2 compared to Wall Street’s forecast of $713 billion. Adjusted earnings per share came in at $2.64, a cent higher than expected. Last year, Amazon surpassed Walmart in annual revenue for the first time, with total sales coming in at $717 billion.
Shares of Walmart were up 1% in Thursday’s premarket trade. The stock is up more than 13% year to date.
NasdaqGS - Nasdaq Real Time Price • USD
(WMT)
129.04 +2.42 (+1.92%)
As of 9:55:47 AM EST. Market Open.
Advanced Chart
Investors will likely take a second look at Walmart’s somewhat conservative guidance.
For the first quarter, the company expects revenue to grow 3.5-4.5% and adjusted per-share earnings to tally $0.63-$0.65. That outlook undershoots the 5% growth and adjusted earnings of $0.69 that Wall Street expected.
For fiscal year 2027, the retail giant expects revenue to increase by 3.5%-4.5%, alongside adjusted earnings of $2.75-$2.85. That’s also conservative compared with the nearly 5% growth Wall Street predicted, alongside adjusted earnings of $2.97 a share.
CFO John David Rainey told investors on the call, “Our goal is to outperform this guidance, but we believe it’s prudent to start the year with a level of conservatism given the backdrop is still somewhat unstable.”
While Rainey said “nothing” is different when it comes to consumer behavior or the macroeconomic backdrop, and flagged indicators such as a hiring slowdown, poor consumer sentiment, or other debt burdens like student loans that could weigh on results.
He also hinted at potential increases to guidance throughout the year, noting that Walmart has raised its guidance each year over the past three years.
In its US business, quarterly same-store sales grew 4.6%, slightly higher than estimates of 4.3%. The growth was driven by e-commerce strength, higher ticket sizes, and a larger-than-expected 2.6% uptick in transactions.
CEO John Furner said the company again gained share “from households making more than $100,000” as they turn to the retailer for their groceries, and even for fashion and other needs, with general merchandise sales up by low single digits for Walmart US.
He added, “For households earning below $50,000, we continue to see that wallets are stretched and in some cases, people are managing spending paycheck to paycheck.”
As e-commerce sales jumped 27% for its US business, Furner said convenience is just as important as price. Those results beat the 19.8% increase expected, and only a small moderation from the 28% growth seen in the third quarter.
Walmart said the rise was driven by store-fulfilled pickup and delivery, advertising, and its marketplace, with sales through “expedited store-fulfilled delivery channels” up more than 50% in the quarter.
_Read more: _Live coverage of corporate earnings
Walmart’s wholesale retailer, Sam’s Club, saw sales grow slightly less than expected, up 4%. Wall Street expected a 4.4% rise in the fourth quarter. Transaction count was higher as consumers turned to the chain for grocery and general merchandise, but consumers spent less per each trip.
—
Brooke DiPalma is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on X at @BrookeDiPalma or email her at bdipalma@yahoofinance.com.
Click here for the latest stock market news and in-depth analysis, including events that move stocks
Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance
Terms and Privacy Policy
Privacy Dashboard
More Info