Walmart’s stock tumbles after soft guidance offsets earnings beat

The Bentonville, Ark.-based retail giant
WMT,
+1.27%
posted net income of $453 million, or 17 cents a share, for the third quarter, after a loss of $1.8 billion, or 66 cents a share, in the year-earlier period.

Adjusted per-share earnings came to $1.53, ahead of the $1.52 FactSet consensus.

Revenue rose 5.2% to $160.8 billion from $152.8 billion, also ahead of the $159.7 billion FactSet consensus.

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Walmart’s U.S. same-store sales rose 4.9%, while e-commerce sales rose 24%. Average transactions were up 3.4%, while the average ticket was up 1.5%.

Chief Executive Doug McMillion said the company saw revenue grow across segments and that it was getting an early start to the holiday season.

At the company’s international segment, growth in sales was led by Walmex and China. E-commerce sales fell 3%, while advertising grew 4%.

At Sam’s Club U.S., sales rose 2.8% to $22.0 billion from $21.4 billion a year ago, led by food and consumables, and healthcare. Same-store sales rose 3.8%, transactions were up 4% and average ticket was down 0.2%.

The company said it was raising its full-year guidance and now expects adjusted EPS of $6.40 to $6.48, but that was below the FactSet consensus of $6.50. It expects sales to grow 5% to 5.5%, while FactSet is expecting growth of 5%.

The stock has gained about 20% in the year to date, while the S&P 500
SPX,
+0.16%
has gained 17%.