Walmart sales rebound with strongest growth in a decade
Walmart is raising its outlook for the year after beating all expectations for the second quarter and registering the strongest same-store sales growth in a decade.
Shares surged 7 percent before the opening bell Thursday.
The Bentonville, Arkansas, retailer had a loss of $861 million, or 29 cents because of some sizeable investments. Adjusted for those one-time costs, however, per-share earnings were earnings were $1.29 per share, easily topping Wall Street projections of $1.21 per share, according to Zacks Investment Research.
"Walmart's second quarter was a banner quarter on multiple fronts, from e-commerce growth of 40 percent, through mid-single digit comp store sales growth at both U.S. stores and Sam's, and solid performance in the international division," said Moody's lead retail analyst Charlie O'Shea in an emailed statement.
Walmart Inc. posted revenue of $128.03 billion, also beating projections.
Sales at existing stores jumped 4.5 percent and e-commerce sales grew 40 percent.