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Shares of the world's largest retailer and a consumer bellwether
rose 2.7% in premarket trading.
While Walmart has increased prices on some products, it still
undercuts rivals due to its scale and negotiating power with
suppliers, helping it gain market share in key areas of business
such as groceries.
However, the company's focus on its "Everyday Low Price"
strategy has pushed up costs as it spends heavily to get around
supply-chain challenges by speeding up shipments and chartering
its own cargo ships.
The company said it expects fiscal 2023 adjusted earnings per
share to increase 5% to 6%, while analysts had expected a 4.4%
increase, according to Refinitiv data.
Walmart expects fiscal 2023 U.S. comparable sales to increase
slightly more than 3%, while analysts were expecting a 2.8%
increase.
Net revenue in Walmart's fourth quarter showed a surprise 0.5%
increase to $152.87 billion, beating analysts' average estimate
of $151.53 billion, or a 0.4% fall.
Sales at its U.S. stores open at least for a year rose 5.6%,
excluding fuel, in line with analysts' estimates, helped by a
3.1% rise in transactions.
However, online sales growth in the United States was just 1%,
compared with a 69% surge a year earlier and 8% in the previous
quarter. Analysts at Tesley Advisory Group had expected a 10%
quarterly rise.
The company also raised its annual dividend by 2% to $2.24 per
share.
(Reporting by Uday Sampath and Siddharth Cavale in Bengaluru and
Arriana McLymore in New York; Editing by Arun Koyyur)
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