Walmart (WMT) Q3 2025 Earnings

Walmart raised its forecast on Tuesday as customers bought more discretionary items, ordered more home deliveries and started their holiday shopping.

The discounter now expects net sales to grow between 4.8% and 5.1% for the whole year. That compares with its previous forecast of sales growth of between 3.75% and 4.75% for the period. The updated outlook came as Walmart reported third-quarter earnings and revenue that beat expectations.

In a CNBC interview, Chief Financial Officer John David Rainey said general merchandise sales — outside the grocery department — grew year-over-year for the second straight quarter after falling for 11 consecutive quarters. Still, he said consumers are waiting to make those purchases until they see a compelling deal, especially since they’re paying more for food.

“We expect this holiday period to be very consistent with that,” he said. “They are focused on price and value.”

Here’s what the big-box retailer reported for the period compared to Wall Street estimates, according to a survey of analysts by LSEG:

• Earnings per stock: 58 cents adjusted versus 53 cents expected
• Income: $169.59 billion versus $167.72 billion expected

Walmart shares rose about 2% in premarket trading.

In the three-month period ended Oct. 31, Walmart’s net income increased to $4.58 billion, or 57 cents per share, compared with $453 million, or 6 cents per share. share, in the period of the previous year. Revenue was up from $160.80 billion in the year-ago quarter.

Comparable sales, an industry metric also known as same-store sales, rose 5.3% at Walmart and 7% at Sam’s Club, excluding fuel.

Customers visited Walmart’s U.S. stores and website more, and tended to spend more when they did, compared to the year-ago quarter. Walmart US transactions increased 3.1% and the average ticket increased 2.1% year over year.

E-commerce sales rose 22% in the U.S., with gains from pickup and home delivery along with growth in Walmart’s advertising and third-party marketplace businesses.

Walmart shoppers have also been willing to pay more to get their groceries faster, Rainey said. In the last two quarters, 30% of customer orders in the US have come with an additional charge to get delivery within a shorter time frame, e.g. within one hour or within three hours.

He said Walmart’s e-commerce business is “getting very close to profitability because we’re able to use some of the delivery costs with these incremental fees that customers are willing to pay for convenience.”

Walmart, the nation’s largest retailer, delivered its latest sales results and weighed in on American consumers as investors gauge sentiment and weigh the outlook for the most crucial shopping season of the year.

Retailers, including Walmart, are struggling with a mixed bag of factors this holiday season. Inflation has eased, with gas prices falling, and consumer goods inflation remains low year-on-year. The fear of a protracted process to determine the winner of the US presidential election never arose.

Still, President-elect Donald Trump’s proposal to impose tariffs on imports from China and other countries has raised new concerns that prices are rising again. The holiday season is also shorter this year and parts of the United States have had unseasonably warm weather, two dynamics that could hurt retailers.

Rainey said tariffs could force Walmart to raise prices, but said it’s too early to say which items might become more expensive.

“We never want to raise prices,” he said. “Our model is everyday low prices. But there will likely be cases where prices will increase for consumers.”

He said about two-thirds of the goods that Walmart sells are made, grown or assembled in the United States, reducing the tariff risk for those goods. And he added that Walmart, like other retailers, has tried to diversify where it imports goods.

“We’ve lived under a tariff environment for seven years, so we’re pretty familiar with that,” he said. “However, tariffs are inflationary for customers, so we want to work with suppliers and with our own private brand range to try and bring prices down.”

Holiday spending is expected to increase this year, but at a modest pace. The National Retail Federation, a retail trade group, said it expects holiday spending in November and December to rise 2.5% to 3.5% compared with 2023, to a range of $979.5 billion to $989 billion. That would be lower than the 3.9% year-over-year jump from the 2022 to 2023 holiday season, when spending totaled $955.6 billion.

Rainey said the holiday season “is well underway.”

He said items such as TVs, Apple AirPods, Beats headphones and even tires have been sold. On the other hand, clothing and other weather-dependent purchases such as space heaters have been slower due to unseasonably warm weather in parts of the country.

Some of the general merchandise gains indicate that consumers are feeling relief from inflation, but some also have to do with Walmart’s strategy, he said. The company has expanded its range of toys, home goods and more through its third-party marketplace.

As of Monday’s close, Walmart shares are up nearly 60% this year, more than the S&P 500’s gain of about 24% in the same period. Walmart’s stock closed Monday at $84.08, bringing the company’s market cap to $675.86 billion.