Walmart Overcomes Inflation Woes, Boosts Profit And Sales

Walmart overcame rising inflation, a snarled global supply chain, and surging costs related to COVID-19 sick leave among its workers to deliver strong fourth-quarter results Thursday, Anne D’Innocenzio reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Photo Insert: A good sign for America's largest retailers

The nation’s largest retailer, based in Bentonville, Arkansas, also delivered on Thursday an upbeat outlook for this year and boosted its dividend. Shares rose nearly 2% in morning trading.

Walmart is the first major retailer to report fourth-quarter fiscal results, which include the critical holiday shopping period, and is considered a major barometer of spending given its size so analysts carefully parse through the data.

Walmart executives said that its shoppers are still in good financial shape, and they don’t see any major changes in consumer behavior patterns like trading down to cheaper labels but they are paying attention to higher prices. It also expects supply chain issues to ease in coming months.

Walmart said that its “rollbacks” — a temporary price reduction on an item — are significantly up from the end of the third quarter and about where it was at the end of the first quarter last year.

Net income reached $3.56 billion, or $1.28 per share, in the quarter ended Jan. 31. Per-share earnings adjusted for one-time costs and benefits were $1.53, or 3 cents better than Wall Street expected, according to a survey by FactSet.

Total revenue rose 0.5% to $152.87 billion. Analysts expected $151.72 billion, according to FactSet. Last year during the same period, the company lost $2.9 billion due partly to costs related to the pandemic.

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