Shares in retail titan Walmart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT) nudged 0.45% higher on Wednesday ahead of its second quarter results ahead of the bell tomorrow (Thursday).
Today saw discount retailer Target Corp (NYSE:TGT) post its numbers and shares rose 3.4% in their wake, so things could be looking up for Walmart on a big week for retail results in New York.
in the quarter to July 29, Target's net income was US$672ml, or US$1.22 a share, compared with US$680mln, or US$1.16 a share, in the same period a year ago.
Excluding non-recurring items, adjusted earnings per share came to US$1.23, beating market expectations for US$1.19. Revenue rose 1.6% to US$16.43bn from US$16.17 bn, beating consensus of US$16.27bn.
Significantly, same-store sales increased 1.3%, beating expectations of 0.3% growth, as traffic rose 2.1%, and this is an interesting metric to look out for at Walmart since same store sales there were , like Target, predicted to be flat.
Consensus estimates see earnings for Walmart of $1.07 per share representing a negative 0.47% growth and consensus revenue estimates of $122.8 billion representing modest 1.61% growth.
Target has been focusing on improving its supply chain, while Walmart has invested into its e-commerce business. It will be interesting to see how this is paying off.