Walmart delivers another quarter of impressive sales but offers a muted outlook

NEW YORK — Walmart delivered another impressive quarter as the promise of lower prices and speedy deliveries attracted a broader spectrum of Americans from cash-strapped to wealthier households during the critical holiday shopping period.

The subdued outlook, offered Thursday, from the Bentonville, Arkansas, company, however, hinted at a volatile economic environment ahead.

''Given that we are as large as we are and so tied to consumer health and the economy, we want to maintain maximum flexibility and not get out ahead of ourselves at this point in the year, '' Walmart's chief financial officer John David Rainey told investors during the earnings call.

He cited subdued consumer sentiment, a fragile job market and student loan delinquencies among other issues it's monitoring.

Still, Walmart's impressive quarter wasn't enough to postpone what was coming.

For the first time, Walmart recorded annual sales that were lower than online behemoth Amazon, dethroning the discounter from its status as the nation's largest company by revenue, according to Fortune, which compiles a ranking of the top 500 U.S. corporations by total revenue for their respective fiscal years.

For the full year, Walmart's sales reached $713.2 billion, while Amazon earlier this month delivered net sales of $716.9 billion, helped by its surging cloud service unit, advertising and massive ecommerce business.

John Furner, 51, who headed the company's U.S. operations, took over for Doug McMillon this month. McMillon had turned America's largest retailer into a tech-powered giant and spearheaded an era of robust sales growth after being named Walmart's CEO in 2014.

Walmart's shares rose more than 25% since its last quarterly earnings report and earlier this month it became the first non-tech company to reach a valuation of more than a $1 trillion. Shares rose nearly 1% in afternoon trading.

Walmart has resonated with many Americans who are carefully considering where they spend money because of inflation and how the company performs is considered a barometer of consumer spending given its vast customer base. More than 150 million customers are on its website or in its stores every week, according to Walmart.

While inflation has cooled, consumer prices have soared about 25% over the past five years. Many economists expect more companies will begin passing on higher costs from higher U.S. tariffs to their customers in coming months.

Walmart's promise of lower prices, improved merchandise and faster delivery has broadened its base to include wealthier shoppers in that environment, with the biggest gains in market share coming from households with annual income over $100,000. That has happened as lower-income shoppers have become more restrained, reflecting what economists call a K-shaped economy phenomenon.

''We continue to see (their) wallets are stretched, and in some cases, people are managing spending paycheck to paycheck,'' he said during a conference call. ''That said, even these households are emphasizing convenience nearly as much as price.''

Walmart has managed higher costs from President Donald Trump's tariffs by shifting what it offers on store shelves while absorbing some higher costs and diversifying sourcing.

Rainey told The Associated Press during a phone call Thursday that for the latest quarter, average prices for identical items at the retailer rose a little above 1%, with prices for food up a little less than that and general merchandise inflation was up more than 3%. Managing costs for general merchandise items like TVs and vacuum cleaners has been more challenging since most are foreign imports, he said.

Still, Rainey acknowledged that he had a lot more trepidation nine months ago when tariffs were just starting to hit, but he said the company has done a good job in minimizing the impact to the consumer.

Walmart reported fourth-quarter earnings of $4.24 billion, or 53 cents per share, for the quarter ended Jan. 31. Adjusted per-share results were 74 cents, a penny better than Wall Street expected, according to FactSet.

Sales rose 5.6% to $190.7 billion from $180.6 billion, also edging out expectations.

Comparable sales at Walmart stores, including online sales, rose 4.6% after a 4.5% increase in the previous quarter. Sales were broadly stronger, particularly groceries, which have been an enormous generator of traffic for Walmart, the company said. It cited fashion as a bright spot, too.

And Walmart said speedier deliveries helped fuel the sales momentum, with expedited deliveries under three hours accounting for 35% of orders from stores.

U.S. e-commerce business increased 27% during the quarter, accounting for 23% of overall sales.

Walmart said that for the current quarter, it expects sales to increase anywhere from 3.5% to 4.5% and earnings per share to be in the range of 63 cents to 65 cents. For the year, it expects sales to reach $706.4 billion and earnings per share to be $2.64.