Walmart Inc. (WMT) on Tuesday announced its financial results for the third quarter that beat consensus forecast. The strong performance was partly driven by a surge in its e-commerce sales. The Bentonville, Arkansas-based retail giant reported earnings of $5.14 billion, or $1.80 per share for the quarter, well above $3.23 billion, or $1.15 per share, in the comparable period last year. On an adjusted basis, profit rose to $1.34 per share, surpassing analysts’ average estimate of $1.18 per share.
Revenue came in at $134.71 billion, higher than $128 billion in the year-ago quarter, and above consensus forecast pf $132.13 billion. The company’s quarterly revenue was helped by a strong surge of 79 percent in e-commerce sales on year-over-year basis. Speaking on the results, CEO Doug McMillon said in a statement “we think these new customer behaviors will largely persist and we’re well positioned to serve customers with the value and experience they’re looking for.”
U.S. comparable sales increased 6.4 percent, as compared to a rise of 4.16 percent projected by analysts. Comparable sales at Sam’s Club rose 11.1 percent in the quarter, while Walmart International sales increased just 1.3 percent to $29.6 billion.
The company said it incurred an additional cost of around $600 related to Covid-19 including higher salaries for warehouse employees and bonuses for store workers. The costs also include expenses related to frequent cleaning of facilities. Comparatively, it had incurred a huge pandemic related cost of $1.5 billion in the second quarter.
Walmart (NYSE: WMT) shares are trading nearly flat on Tuesday morning despite reporting better-than-expected quarterly results. Overall, the stock has performed well in the recent months. WMT share price has jumped about 27 percent on year-to-date basis, about +20 percent during the past 6 months, and nearly 14 percent over the last three months.
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