A shopper pushes a cart outside a Walmart store in San Leandro, California, U.S., Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | fake images
Walmart It raised its sales and profit outlook on Thursday as the retailer posted revenue increases in its fiscal third quarter, driven by double-digit growth in e-commerce and new customers across all revenues.
The retailer said it expects full-year net sales to rise between 4.8% and 5.1%, up from its previous expectations of between 3.75% and 4.75%. It said it expects its adjusted earnings per share to range between $2.58 and $2.63, a slight increase from its previous range of $2.52 to $2.62.
It was the second straight quarter that Walmart raised its full-year forecast.
Walmart’s earnings report is the first since the Arkansas-based company announced a leadership change. The big-box retailer said last week that John Furner, chief executive of its U.S. business, will succeed longtime CEO Doug McMillon on Feb. 1.
In an interview with CNBC, Chief Financial Officer John David Rainey said consumer habits did not change during the quarter, as shoppers spent selectively and looked for deals. He said Walmart has won those “value-seeking” customers at all income levels, both because of the economic context and because of its own strategic moves.
“Consumers seek to do business with those companies that provide them value, that provide them with the convenience they know and expect, and that perform consistently well,” he said.
He said Walmart saw an impact from pausing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits, formerly known as food stamps, during the prolonged government shutdown. But he said “that’s starting to pick up now that people are getting those funds again.”
Here’s what the big box retailer reported for the fiscal third quarter compared to Wall Street estimates, according to a survey of analysts by LSEG:
- Earnings per share: 62 cents adjusted versus 60 cents expected
- Revenue: $179.50 billion vs. $177.43 billion expected
Walmart also said Thursday that it will transfer the listing of its common stock to the Nasdaq and begin trading there on December 9. It is currently listed on the New York Stock Exchange. It will have the same stock symbol, “WMT.”
The company’s shares rose about 4% in premarket trading Thursday. As of Wednesday’s close, Walmart shares are up about 11% so far this year. That lags the S&P 500’s gains of nearly 13% over the same period.
As a retail giant that attracts shoppers of all incomes, Walmart is closely watched as an indicator of the health of the American consumer and how President Donald Trump’s tariffs are affecting the prices shoppers pay. It can speak to consumer behavior across categories as it sells discretionary items like makeup and clothing along with staples like milk and toilet paper.
Walmart has gained more high-income customers as even wealthy households sought relief from paying more expensive grocery bills due to high inflation in recent years. That group has also responded to store remodels and faster deliveries.
That growth continued in the most recent quarter, Rainey told CNBC. He said Walmart has gained market share across all incomes, but “they are more pronounced in the high-income segment.”
Some of those shoppers have turned to Walmart for speed, Rainey said. The retailer can now deliver to approximately 95% of American homes from stores in less than three hours.
Customers now expedite about a third of their online orders from stores to arrive within one to three hours, he said. He said revenue related to those faster deliveries has increased 70% year over year. The company charges a fee for some faster orders and others are included as a benefit of its subscription-based membership program, Walmart+.
The express delivery service is popular, even among lower-income shoppers, he said. During the weeks of November, when SNAP benefits were suspended, Rainey said Walmart noticed a drop in that volume.
In the three months ended Oct. 31, Walmart’s net income rose to $6.14 billion, or 77 cents per share, from $4.58 billion, or 57 cents per share, in the year-earlier period.
Excluding one-time items such as corporate reorganization charges, Walmart’s adjusted earnings per share were 62 cents.
Revenue rose from $169.59 billion in the prior-year quarter.
Walmart US comparable sales increased 4.5% in the third quarter, excluding fuel, compared to the same period a year ago. That beat analyst expectations for 4% growth, according to StreetAccount. The industry metric, also called same-store sales, includes sales from stores and clubs open for at least a year.
At Sam’s Club, comparable sales rose 3.8%, excluding fuel.
Walmart’s e-commerce sales grew 27% globally as all of the company’s segments posted strong gains. In the United States, e-commerce increased 28%, driven by increases in the delivery of online orders placed in store and the growth of advertising and its third-party marketplace.
International e-commerce sales were up 26% and at Sam’s Club in the US they were up 22%.
In the United States, shoppers made more trips to Walmart and spent more on those visits. Customer transactions increased by 1.8% and the average ticket increased by 2.7%.
As Walmart gains more digital traffic and adds more products to its third-party marketplace, advertising has also been a significant growth area. In the quarter, its global advertising business increased 53%, including Vizio, the smart TV maker it acquired last year for $2.3 billion. Its US advertising business, Walmart Connect, grew 33% year over year.
Walmart is considering another acquisition after rapidly expanding its third-party marketplace in recent years, while it is in talks to buy R&A Data, a startup that works to curb scams and counterfeits, CNBC reported Wednesday.
Like other retailers, Walmart has said it raised prices on some items to offset higher costs from the tariffs. About a third of what Walmart sells in the United States comes from other parts of the world, with China, Mexico, Canada, Vietnam and India representing its largest markets for imports, Rainey told CNBC in May.
In a phone call Thursday, Rainey said that when it comes to higher tariff costs, “the pressure is real.” However, he said the Walmart team has been able to reduce the impact on customers by finding ways to absorb some costs.
Walmart’s results on Thursday followed cautious updates from Aim, house deposit and Lowe’s. All three retailers lowered their full-year profit outlooks this week, citing consumers who were hesitant to make big purchases and were hungry for deals.
TJ Maxx and the parent company of Marshalls TJXOn the other hand, it raised its full-year forecast, saying it’s seeing a “strong start” to the holidays while catering to value-conscious buyers.
Rainey said Walmart is “coming into the holidays quite optimistically,” saying it is prepared with competitive pricing.
