{"id":19007,"date":"2026-08-20T13:06:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T13:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/?p=19007"},"modified":"2026-08-20T13:06:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T13:06:10","slug":"walmart-shares-slide-6-as-retailer-signals-sales-slowdown-and-misses-full-year-target","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/2026\/08\/20\/walmart-shares-slide-6-as-retailer-signals-sales-slowdown-and-misses-full-year-target\/","title":{"rendered":"Walmart Shares Slide 6% as Retailer Signals Sales Slowdown and Misses Full-Year Target"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Wall Street responded swiftly to Walmart\u2019s restrained full-year financial outlook Thursday morning, driving company shares down 6% ahead of the opening bell as the retail giant reported its weakest U.S. comparable sales growth in six years.<\/p>\n

Same-store sales across U.S. locations\u2014a metric covering stores open for at least a year plus their associated digital purchases\u2014grew 2.6% during the second quarter. That marks a slowdown from the 4.1% gain posted in the preceding three-month period.<\/p>\n

Stripping out the wellness segment containing Walmart\u2019s pharmacies, comparable sales picked up 3.4% for the quarter. The retailer attributed pressure on those sales to federal legislation mandating that pharmacies dispense certain expensive Medicare<\/a> drugs at capped prices. Even with that adjustment, performance fell short of the 3.8% growth consensus estimate tracked by FactSet<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The legislative price caps stem from federal health provisions aimed at lowering out-of-pocket costs on specialty drugs for seniors, creating revenue headwinds for high-volume prescription retailers despite steady foot traffic.<\/p>\n

Walmart\u2019s U.S. e-commerce<\/a> operations, a key driver of growth for the retailer, rose 24%, trailing the first-quarter pace of 26%.<\/p>\n

As one of the earliest major retail operators to publish second-quarter financial results, Walmart<\/a> gives economists and industry analysts a fresh indicator on whether sustained price inflation linked to the conflict in Iran is altering consumer purchasing patterns.<\/p>\n

The company is widely viewed as a bellwether for overall retail health due to its massive footprint, logging over 150 million shoppers weekly across its stores and website, according to Walmart.<\/p>\n

Those metrics command heightened focus after U.S. economic reports published Friday highlighted unexpectedly soft July retail sales alongside a University of Michigan survey pointing to deepening consumer pessimism as households face elevated costs for groceries, fuel, and daily necessities.<\/p>\n

FactSet data indicates that Walmart’s latest quarterly results mark its lowest U.S. comparable store sales increase since the 1.9% rise recorded for the period ending Jan. 31, 2020.<\/p>\n

Persistent price pressure has expanded the retailer’s consumer demographic, enabling it to attract a higher proportion of affluent shoppers. Walmart is seeing its most substantial market share gains among households earning more than $100,000 annually.<\/p>\n

For the three-month quarter ending July 31, Walmart reported net income of $6.37 billion, or 80 cents per share. Adjusted earnings per share reached 81 cents, easily beating the Wall Street estimate of 74 cents, according to FactSet.<\/p>\n

Quarterly revenue climbed 5.9% to $187.94 billion, surpassing the $186.62 billion expected by Wall Street analysts, according to FactSet.<\/p>\n

Looking ahead to the third quarter, Walmart anticipates per-share earnings of 62 cents to 64 cents and sales growth of 3% to 3.5%, placing revenue between $184.88 billion and $186.23 billion. Both projections fell short of Wall Street estimates of 68 cents per share on sales of $188.19 billion, according to FactSet.<\/p>\n

For the full fiscal year, the company projects earnings per share between $2.80 and $2.87, with total sales expected to grow 4% to 5% to reach $741.7 billion to $748.8 billion, according to FactSet.<\/p>\n

That full-year guidance sits below consensus forecasts from analysts, who had been expecting full-year earnings of $2.90 per share on sales of $752.06 billion, according to FactSet data.<\/p>\n

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