Following Walmart’s (WMT) latest earnings report, the stock is down 6%, despite the quarterly earnings being strong. Both top and bottom lines came in higher than Wall Street expected in the retailer’s fourth quarter and fiscal 2025 results, released on Thursday before the market opened. Quarterly revenue increased 5.3% year over year to $182.6 billion, while adjusted earnings per share were up 10% to $0.66. However, the retailer’s fiscal 2026 guidance is what appears to have concerned investors.
On Thursday, Walmart was on track for its worst trading day since November 2023. After a winning 2024 and a solid start to 2025, investors are worried about the future. For its fiscal year 2026, the company put forth conservative guidance, which it has done for the last two years. It projects to increase net sales between 3% to 4%.
“We’ve been operating in a highly dynamic backdrop for several years, and we expect this year to be no different,” Walmart CFO John David Rainey said on the earnings call. “Our outlook assumes a relatively stable macroeconomic environment, but acknowledges that there are still uncertainties related to consumer behavior and global economic and geopolitical conditions.”
