Walmart: A Formidable Player in the Retail Industry

• Founded in 1962, Walmart was opened in Rogers, Arkansas. Its early growth was focused on rural areas to avoid competition with the retailer titans like Sears.
• Within a decade of opening grocery and merchandise supercenters, Walmart was on par with the largest American grocers.
• In August 1972, Walmart started trading on the New York Stock Exchange. When the company declared a dividend in 1974, it began providing an annual cash dividend and paid shareholders quarterly.
• In 1983, the first Sam’s Club opened with the idea to help small businesses save money on merchandise bought in bulk. Over the years, the branches of Sam’s Club mushroomed over the world: 600 of them opened in the United States and 200 in other countries. Sam’s Club can also be accessed online at samsclub.com. 
• The company completed its private satellite network in 1987. Its purpose was to build a connection between each store and Walmart’s headquarters in Bentonville. Walmart’s satellite network is now worth $24 million.
• By the last year of the twentieth century, Walmart became the largest private employer in the world.
• In 2001, Walmart’s total sales dwarfed those of Exxon Mobil.
• Walmart dished out about $1 billion in cash bonuses to its employees in 2009. The company also provides profit sharing, merchandise discounts, and employer-matched 401(k) contributions.
• To reduce its impact on the environment, Walmart started using oil in 2015 to heat stores. Later, the company acquired Texas Retail Energy to buy electricity for stores at lower prices and, in doing so, saved $15 million a year.
• In 2016, Walmart bought Jet.com and Hayneedle.com and thus ventured into the field of e-commerce.
• In 2017 and 2018, Walmart acquired several apparel brands, among which were Shoes.com, Moosejaw, Bonobos, ModCloth, Art.com, Bare Necessities, and ELOQUII. 
• In 2018, Walmart hired its first chief customer officer.
• Walmart donated over $20 million to victims of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Since then, donating has become an annual event totaling $1 billion.
• In addition to money, Walmart also gave away 100,000 meals and 1,500 truckloads of merchandise to people affected by Katrina.
• In the USA, Walmart’s Black Friday begins in stores at 6 pm on Thanksgiving Day. But most of the deals are available from noon time.
• In 2009, Walmart Cyber Monday turned into Walmart Cyber Week.

• In 2022, Walmart’s brand value amounts to $111.9 billion.
• Walmart’s current revenue worldwide is $573 billion.
• In 2021, the company generated global net sales of over $555 billion, showing an increase of 6.8% from the previous year.
• Walmart’s gross profit margin has remained consistent at about 25% over the last several years.
• Last year, Walmart operated more than 11,000 stores worldwide.
• In 2021, the US segment of Walmart generated about $370 billion, which amounted to 67% of total sales.
• Another large market for Walmart is Mexico, with 2,634 locations. 
• In 2021, about 240 million customers visited Walmart per week.
• So far this year, 230 million have shopped in Walmart per week.
• In 2022, American Walmart has had net sales of $393.3 billion.
• This year, grocery sales accounted for 55.7% of Walmart’s net sales in the US.
• There are 4,743 Walmart stores in the United States.
• Walmart.com boasts 14.3 billion net sales in 2022.
• Market share of Walmart.com in the US is 6.3%.
• Online sales of Walmart International amount to $18.5 billion.
• There are 34.27 million Walmart fans on Facebook.

Source: Statista

Sam Walton was an American businessman known for founding the retail chains Walmart and Sam’s Club. At the time of his death in 1992, Walton’s net worth was $8.6 billion, or about $15 billion in today’s money. He is considered one of the most influential people of the 20^th century: Walmart has grown to be a corporation with extraordinary revenues and millions of employees. Other curious facts about Sam Walton are listed below:

• Walton served as a captain in the U.S. Military Intelligence Corps Unit at the time of World War II.
• After coming from the battlefield in 1945, Walton took a loan of $20,000 from his father-in-law and purchased a Ben Franklin variety store.
• Later, Walton sold the store and all its inventory to his landlord for $50,000.
• He opened the first Walmart store in Rogers, Arkansas in 1962.
• In 1983, Walton launched the first Sam’s Club, whose goal was to help businessmen wishing to buy merchandise in bulk. 
• Walton stepped down as Walmart’s CEO in 1988 but remained its chairman.
• During his lifetime, Walton opened 1,735 Walmart stores, 212 Sam’s Clubs, and 13 Supercenters.
• Walton was included in Time’s list of 100 Most Influential People of the 20^th Century in 1998.
• Walton received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George H.W. Bush in March 1992.
• Forbes ranked Sam Walton as the wealthiest person in the USA from 1982 to 1988.

After holding first place among large retailers in terms of market share for decades, Walmart has lately been surpassed by Amazon. As of June 2022, Amazon accounted for 37.8% of the U.S. e-commerce market. And yet, Walmart remains the second leading retailer in the country, leaving behind giants like Apple, eBay, Target, and Home Depot. The table below shows the percentage distribution of market share among titan retailers in the United States:

Market Share of Leading Retail Companies in the U.S.

Source: Statista

Walmart reported its 2023 third-quarter earnings on Thursday, November 16, with EPS of $1.53, $0.02 better than the analyst estimate of $1.51. Revenue for the quarter came in at $160.8B versus the consensus estimate of $159.3B.

Walmart sees FY 2024 EPS of $6.40-$6.48 versus the analyst consensus of $6.48. Walmart’s stock price closed at $169.78, up 7.50% in the last 3 months and up 14.72% in the last 12 months.

Walmart reported its 2023 second-quarter earnings on Thursday, August 17, with EPS of $1.84, $0.15 better than the analyst estimate of $1.69. Revenue for the quarter came in at $161.6B versus the consensus estimate of $159.76B.

Walmart sees Q3 2024 EPS of $1.45-$1.50 versus the analyst consensus of $1.50, while it also sees FY 2024 EPS of $6.36-$6.46 versus the analyst consensus of $6.28. The retail giant’s stock price closed at $159.26, up 6.24% in the last 3 months and up 14.52% in the last 12 months.

Walmart reported its 2023 first-quarter earnings on Thursday, May 18, with EPS of $1.47, $0.17 better than the analyst estimate of $1.30. Revenue for the quarter came in at $152.3B versus the consensus estimate of $148.5B.

Walmart reported its 2022 fourth-quarter earnings on Tuesday, February 21, with EPS of $1.71, $0.19 better than the analyst estimate of $1.52. Revenue for the quarter came in at $164B versus the consensus estimate of $159.77B.

Walmart reported its third-quarter earnings on Tuesday, November 15, with sales rising by nearly 9%, as Americans across income levels bought the company’s low-priced groceries. Walmart reported an EPS of $1.50 on revenue of $152.8 billion, easily beating the analyst consensus of $1.32 on sales of $147.55B.

Even though Walmart gave way to Amazon, its annual revenue has consistently grown over the years. For the quarter ending July 31, 2022, Walmart’s revenue was $152.859 billion, which signifies a year-over-year increase of 8.37%. In 2022, each quarter has proved to be more profitable than the previous one. For the quarter ending on November 16, 2022, Walmart’s revenue was $152.8 billion, up 8.7%, or 9.8% in constant currency.

The company’s annual 2022 revenue reached $572.75 billion, marking a 2.43% increase from 2021. Last year, Walmart’s annual revenue was $559.151 billion. This constituted a 6.7% increase from 2020. In the first year of the pandemic, the company’s annual revenue was $523.964 billion, an increase of 1.86% from 2019.

In the fourth quarter that ended January 31, 2023, Walmart topped analysts’ forecasts. As the world is skirting close to recession and prices are inexorably rising, people turn to Walmart in search of food, household items, and gifts at a lower cost. Hunting for cheaper goods, customers helped push Walmart’s Q4 revenue to $164.05 billion and beat analysts’ expectations of $159.72 billion. Revenue of $164.05 billion marked a 7.3% growth compared to Q4 2021.

Walmart’s revenue for the twelve months ending January 31, 2023, was $611.289 billion, a 6.73% increase year-over-year. Walmart’s earnings per share in the fourth quarter also ended up higher than predicted: $1.71 versus the anticipated $1.51. The company’s net income in Q4 2022 reached $6.28 billion, which is a significant advance from the $3.56 billion reported a year earlier.

The table below shows the upward trajectory of Walmart’s revenue since 2009:

Walmart’s Annual Revenue since 2009 (in $US Billion)

Operating income is defined as income after operating expenses have been deducted and before interest payments and taxes have been deducted. Walmart’s operating income for the quarter ending July 31, 2022, was $6.854 billion, constituting a 6.8% year-over-year decline. Walmart’s operating income for 2022 has so far been $18.059 billion, a 15.05% growth from 2021. In Q3, Walmart’s adjusted operating income was $6.0 billion, an increase of 3.9%.

For the quarter ending January 31, 2023, its operating income reached $5.561 billion, marking a 5.54% retreat year-over-year. Walmart’s operating income for the twelve months ending January 31, 2023, was $20.428 billion. This is a 21.26% decline year-over-year.

Walmart’s annual operating income for 2021 was $22.548 billion, a 9.63 increase from 2020. The company’s annual operating income for 2020 was $20.568 billion. This was a 6.33% decline from 2019.

The zigzag path of Walmart’s annual operating income is reflected in the table below:

Walmart’s Operating Income since 2009 (in $US Billion)

Walmart International’s net sales were about $101 billion in the fiscal year ending on January 31, 2022. Because Walmart stopped operating in the UK and Japan, this was a decrease of $21 billion from 2021. Sam’s Club had net sales of about $74 billion. The table below contains statistical data about the net sales of Walmart in America, Walmart International, and Sam’s Club:

Walmart’s Net Sales Worldwide by Division from 2010 (in $US Billion)

Source: Statista

According to Walmart’s website, it operates about 10,500 retail units under 46 banners in 24 countries. Walmart also runs an e-commerce business. As of the end of the fiscal year 2022, Walmart employs approximately 1.7 million associates in the United States and about 2.3 million associates worldwide. Having 2,300,000 employees indicates that there is a 0% change in their number compared to the previous year. In 2021, Walmart employed 2,300,000 people,  a 4.55% increase in their number from 2020. In the first year of the pandemic, 2,200,000 employees worked for the company and the same number of people were hired in 2019. Compared to 2018, there was a 4.35% decline in Walmart’s employees in the year prior to the outburst of the coronavirus. See how many people have worked for Walmart worldwide since 2009 in the table below:

Walmart’s Annual Number of Employees Globally

Source: Macrotrends.net

In 2022, the retail giant rolled out numerous changes and announcements. It permanently closed some locations, opened new fulfillment centers, and removed several products from its shelves. It also changed store layouts to be more attractive in the eyes of consumers and cleared space for new products soon expected to appear in its stores and online. Walmart further updated its produce section and began to offer online service bookings to customers. It made online orders a key area of focus, considering that many customers had found shopping online to their liking during the pandemic and continue ordering Walmart’s goods over the internet even now when the doors of its physical stores have long been open. Throughout 2022, Walmart made significant changes to its business model, introducing tech-savvy capabilities and streamlined delivery services.

Yet despite trying to create a more efficient customer experience, Walmart lowered sales expectations for the US in the year ahead. The company expects same-store sales in America to climb between 2% and 2.5%, excluding fuel. These numbers sound disappointing to analysts who predicted a 3% growth and looked forward to earnings per share from $5.90 to $6.05, excluding fuel, in 2023. Walmart adjusted the figures because it is planning for a downturn in the market, aware of a slowdown in consumer spending, liable to lead to a deeper recession. It is also mindful of such obstacles as supply chain issues, Federal Reserve interest rate hikes, layoffs in the tech industry, and people’s general low confidence in the economy. Yet Walmart also knows that, compared to other retailers, it is better off during these uncertain geopolitical and economic times because its goods are cheaper than theirs. For consumers mindful of their spending budgets all roads lead to Walmart where they can save money as prices soar.

Walmart’s famous business model – Everyday Low Price – had once pushed it to the top in the retailer industry, the position it retained for decades and lost only with the emergence of Amazon. In contrast to other companies operating on high margins, Walmart proposed lower margins and had a high sales volume and cost-cutting. Walmart’s consistently low prices also mean that there are no discounts, and customers are more loyal. Such a model brings stable cash flows, higher revenues, and larger margins to the business. As Walmart’s business strategies have proved effective, analysts at Walletinvestor.com are convinced that the company will continue growing, despite competition from Amazon. At the time of writing, WMT shares are trading at $131.310. Based on analysts’ forecasts, long-term growth can be expected. Analysts foresee that in 2024, the price of Walmart stock will rise to $185.222. There is every reason to believe that Walmart will retain its strong position in the industry for years to come.