Walmart, the largest retailer in the United States, said on Thursday that strong holiday sales were promoting its revenue to another annual record, but have slowed slower, as buyers face persistent inflation, uncertain impact of invoices and invoices.
Walmart, which brings millions of customers every week, is a bell of US consumer trends. Investors have risen to the weaker ones of expected forecasts, a rare momentum loss for the company that has published a number of bumper results.
Walmart said sales rose to $ 681 billion in its latest use, which lasts until January, an increase of 5.1 % since the previous year. The retailer’s annual profit increased faster than sales to about $ 20 billion.
The critical holiday season was a strong retailer, with more people visiting shops and shopping online in the last quarter, and spending more on every visit. E -commerce sales in the United States increased by 20 %.
“We are gaining market share, our top line is healthy and we are in excellent condition with a census,” said Doug McMillon, Walmart’s chief executive, in a statement.
But looking forward, the company said it expects revenue to increase by 3 to 4 % this year. This was a bit lighter than analysts was expected and Walmart’s stock decreased about 8 % in before the purchase.
“The company had a very powerful 2024 and the company had many very strong years since the start of the pandemic,” said David Silverman, a retail analyst in Fitch ratings. “It’s just mathematically a challenge to maintain these levels of growth.”
As Walmart has said in recent years, in recent years, higher income buyers, whom the retailer sets as those who make more than $ 100,000, have helped to earn a market share. These consumers are in a better position to absorb higher prices as inflation has recently noted. Walmart has called on increasing egg prices as an important factor that has pushed prices higher in recent months.
Walmart said its stock levels increased by 3 % in the last quarter. Responding to the threat of President Trump’s invoices, analysts expect retailers, such as Walmart, will order more goods from China and elsewhere to move on to contributions.
“The biggest challenge for the horizon for Walmart and everyone else is how the image of the invoices clarifies,” said Seraz Mian, research director at Zacks Investment Research.
In November, Walmart tried to mitigate her concerns on Wall Street about her exposure to invoices, saying that about two -thirds of the goods they sell come from the United States. This is, in part, because of Walmart’s large grocery business.
However, Walmart’s leader John David Rainey said in an interview at a time when the company is expected that if new invoices are imposed, they would be inflationary for customers.
Lower income buyers have less flexibility in their budgets to absorb higher prices. Despite the company that attracts increasingly richer buyers, its customer base still distorts to those with lower incomes.
Walmart’s reduction in shares on Thursday put a dent in the power of the stock, which over the past 12 months has rose more than 70 percent, significantly overcoming the wider market as well as competitors such as Amazon and Target.
“Stock has literally accepted it as if it were one of these high -tech – so very powerful dynamic,” Mr Mian said. “The question has always been. When does this trend slow down and when does the pressure and lower -income pressure starts and pressure on the results?” added.
