*By Carlo Versano*
Walmart, the world's largest retailer, reported its strongest growth in a decade in its second-quarter earnings released before the bell Thursday.
"Every part of the set of numbers were incredible," said Sucharita Kodali, a retail analyst at Forrester.
Revenue for the quarter was $128 billion ー about $2 billion more than expected ー and adjusted earnings per share were $1.29 compared with an expected $1.22.
Walmart said same-store sales were up 4.5 percent for the second quarter, helped by strong grocery and apparel segments. The e-commerce slice of Walmart's business was up 40 percent compared with the same quarter last year.
The retail giant acquired Jet.com two years ago in a bid to attract more affluent, urban shoppers, and bolster Walmart's e-commerce strategy. It appears to be working, Kodali said, but Amazon maintains an online advantage. "It's still a work in progress," she said Thursday in an interview with Cheddar.
Walmart seems to be riding strong consumer spending, low unemployment, and wage growth to better-than-expected earnings. Shares of Walmart stock rose about 10 percent Thursday morning after the company's earnings report.
But Kodali said the retail sector may face headwinds from tariffs, higher input costs for raw materials, and rising gas prices. "All of these things are going to adversely affect Walmart," she said.
Walmart is the third major retailer to beat earnings expectations this week, after Home Depot and Macy's.
Elon Musk may not have founded Tesla, but he has become the company, and it’s become him. Now sales are plummeting. Is he toxic for the Tesla?
About 780,000 pressure washers sold at retailers like Home Depot are being recalled across the U.S. and Canada, due to a projectile hazard that has resulted in fractures and other injuries among some consumers.
Europeans upset with Elon Musk still aren’t buying his electric cars, adding to a long losing streak for his company.
President Donald Trump has fired one of two Democratic members of the U.S. Surface Transportation Board to break a 2-2 tie ahead of the board considering the largest railroad merger ever proposed.
Ford is recalling more than 355,000 of its pickup trucks across the U.S. because of an instrument panel display failure that’s resulted in critical information, like warning lights and vehicle speed, not showing up on the dashboard.
Nvidia reported a 56% increase in second-quarter revenue and a 59% rise in net income compared to a year ago.
The Rev. Al Sharpton is set to lead a protest march on Wall Street to urge corporate America to resist the Trump administration’s campaign to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The New York civil rights leader will join clergy, labor and community leaders Thursday in a demonstration through Manhattan’s Financial District that’s timed with the anniversary of the Civil Rights-era March on Washington in 1963. Sharpton called DEI the “civil rights fight of our generation." He and other Black leaders have called for boycotting American retailers that scaled backed policies and programs aimed at bolstering diversity and reducing discrimination in their ranks.
President Donald Trump's administration last month awarded a $1.2 billion contract to build and operate what's expected to become the nation’s largest immigration detention complex to a tiny Virginia firm with no experience running correction facilities.
Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos claims audiences don't want to watch Netflix movies in theaters, but that seems not to be the case recently.
Chipmaker Nvidia is poised to release a quarterly report that could provide a better sense of whether the stock market has been riding an overhyped artificial intelligence bubble or is being propelled by a technological boom that’s still gathering momentum.
