Stocks: Walmart surpassed the market expectations

On Thursday, Walmart reported that online sales increased in the third quarter of 2019. Online sales grow 41% in the quarter. As a result, earnings surpassed market expectations. On November 14, Walmart shares added 1%. It is important to mention that since the beginning of this year share increased by more than 30%. Moreover, during the morning the stock reached the best result in 52 weeks as price reached $125.38. All of these factors combined helped the famous company to strengthen its position on the stock market.

Walmart’s CEO Doug McMillion stated in the earnings statement that Walmart is ready for a holiday season.

Let’s have a look at the data from the third quarter. Walmart’s adjusted earnings per share were $1,16 while analysts expected earnings per share would reach $1.09. Also, U.S. same-store sales increased by 3.2% and surpassed the expectations by 0.1%.

However, revenue was not a high as it was expected, as during the third-quarter revenue was $127.99. Analysts thought that Walmart’s revenue would be higher by more than $600 million.

Nevertheless, the net income in the quarter increased in comparison with the same period of time in 2018. In the third quarter of 2019, net income grew to $3.29 billion or $1.15 a share. In 2018, net income was $1.71 billion or 58 cents per share.

Total revenue increased by 2.5% from $124.89 billion to $127.99 in comparison with the same period in 2018.

Another good news for Walmart is that online sales grew by 3.2% while analysts expected the growth of 3.1%.

Grocery business

As mentioned above, e-commerce sales grew up to 41% thanks to strong growth in online grocery. In 2019, online sales increased by 35%; this number is a little bit lower than the company expected in fiscal 2019.

Walmart is facing competition from Amazon. Both companies invested heavily in the speed up the process and to deliver groceries in less time. Walmart made the decision to deliver groceries directly to the customers. This program is available in three cities.

Last but not least is the news regarding the adjusted earnings per share. Based on the company’s forecast earnings per share would increase for fiscal 2020.