Walmart Reports Earnings Tomorrow. Here’s What to Expect. - Barron's

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Shares of Walmart have risen nearly 7% this year, and analysts are hoping for evidence that the retailing behemoth has fared better than its smaller counterparts when it reports earnings on Tuesday.

Here’s a rundown of recent events and expectations:

Analysts are expecting Walmart (ticker: WMT) to earn $1.09 a share, on revenue of $130.58 billion, according to S&P Capital IQ. That compares to EPS of $1.38 a share and revenue of $141.7 billion in the prior quarter, reported in February.
The company’s previous fourth-quarter report missed analysts’ expectations. Yet investors already braced for a difficult holiday quarter, and the stock managed to eke out gains that day. (Not long after, main rival Target (TGT) fell following its earnings report).
However, a lot has changed since that last report. Walmart, Target, and Amazon.com (AMZN) have naturally emerged as “winners,” given that they have been able to do business while other nonessential retailers have been forced to close, and the fact they already had an impressive infrastructure supporting omnichannel, ecommerce, and home delivery.
Given the essential nature of Walmart, earnings expectations are relatively high, despite the tsunami of worries for retail. This optimism has led some investors to seek alternatives to the stock, which has risen at a time when so many others are in the red for the year.
Walmart has a history of beating analysts’ quarterly estimates. Aside from last quarter, Walmart’s bottom line hasn’t disappointed since the start of 2018.
More than three-quarters of analysts have a Buy rating or the equivalent on Walmart, while just over 20% rate it at Hold. There is a single Sell rating on the stock. The average target price on the Street is $131.65.
Walmart is scheduled to report before the bell Tuesday, with a conference call at 8 a.m.