The largest U.S. chain of hypermarkets, Walmart, shed new light on its inner sales projections. For its fiscal year of 2026, the particular numbers turned out to be somewhat lower compared to current estimates by the Wall Street analytical pool. The crowd responded by a nearly 8% plunge in the pre-market trading before the opening bell on February 20. Many investors may have thought they witnessed first signs of fading consumers' optimism. Yet, I personally do not believe this is a kind of fundamental trend reversal. Walmart's business has more than doubled over the past year, from about $50 to $105.30 at its new peak on February 14, with more than two-thirds of this rise being made in the last five months. Such steep climbs may easily face technical corrections under appropriate conditions, which occasion could immediately be considered as a great buying opportunity to enter the stock. The $90-a-piece support line formed a powerful pillar of the immediate post-Christmas rush. For me, the price area just above it plays the same role now.

What actually happened was that the fourth quarter of 2024 today revealed a very nice annual revenue growth of 4.1% (to reach the absolute record of $180.55 billion vs $179.85 in average expectations). This gave even up 5.3% in constant currency, with operating income rising at 8.3% (up $0.6 billion), or 9.4% in the so-called adjusted calculations. Walmart's EPS (equity per share) came out at $0.66, slightly better than $0.64 in average analyst pool forecast, which was only $0.01 lower than the best-ever quarterly indication of August 15, 2024. Global eCommerce sales by Walmart by 16%, reportedly led by "store fulfilled pickup & delivery" and U.S. marketplace. U.S. comparable sales, excluding gasoline, expanded by 4.9% in the last quarter, compared to previous expectations for a jump of 4.15%, helped by solid demand for obesity drugs. The chain's advertising business has increased by 29%, including 24% for Walmart Connect program in the U.S., which extends ad reach beyond Walmart's owned properties by displaying ads on a network of partner websites. In 2024, Walmart also raised its dividend payment to shareholders by 13% to $0.94 per share, which was the largest increase in over a decade. "We have momentum driven by our low prices, a growing assortment, and an e-commerce business driven by faster delivery times," Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said in a statement, adding that the chain continued to gain its market share. I see only good things in last year's report, despite all natural disasters in December, am I thinking in the wrong direction?

As to the current financial year, Walmart only projected consolidated net sales to rise within the range of 3% to 4%, against Wall Street egghead analyst suggestions of a 4% uptick, according to LSEG data cited by Reuters. For Q1 2025, the store chain sees its adjusted per-share profit at $0.57 to $0.58, marginally less than Wall Street estimates as well, citing negative currency effects. If you can call this a weakness, then call it a weakness that Kylian Mbappe scored "only" three goals instead of using his possible four or five scoring chances for Real Madrid against Manchester City in the Champions League match last eve. I think we now have 3-1 in Walmart's favour and no investor should cry if the score is not 4-0. The result is great anyway, still giving Walmart a ticket to the next round of buying to follow the uptrend.

When offering every possible thing from retail goods to groceries, the clear progress of Walmart also serves as a bellwether for other U.S. consumer staples just a few days after the recent set of retail sales data has shown only a monthly decline, very typical for February. But I still see Walmart and Costco as leaders in which it makes good sense to invest more than other stocks in the segment.