Walmart Inc. (WMT) — Company Research

Last Updated: 17 May 2026

Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT) is the world's largest retailer by revenue, operating roughly 10,750 stores under the Walmart, Sam's Club, Walmex and Flipkart banners across 19 countries and serving more than 270 million customers a week. In fiscal 2026 (year ended 31 January 2026) the company crossed $700bn in net sales for the first time, reported $713.2bn of total revenues and grew GAAP diluted EPS by 13% to $2.73. The article below works through how Walmart makes money, what is changing under new CEO John Furner (who succeeded Doug McMillon on 1 February 2026), the segment economics behind the headline growth, and the risk and valuation considerations that come with a $1tn market capitalisation.

1. Company Snapshot

Field	Value
Full name	Walmart Inc.
Ticker	WMT (NYSE)
Sector / Industry	Consumer Defensive / Discount Stores
Founded	1962 by Sam Walton, Rogers, Arkansas
Headquarters	Bentonville, Arkansas, USA
CEO	John Furner (since 1 February 2026; succeeded Doug McMillon)
CFO	John David Rainey
Market cap (May 2026)	~$1.05tn
Revenue (FY2026, yr ended 31 Jan 2026)	$713.2bn (+4.7% YoY)
Net income attributable to Walmart (FY2026)	$21.89bn (+12.6% YoY)
Employees	~2.1 million worldwide (~1.6m in the US)
Exchanges	NYSE primary listing; also part of Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500
Website	corporate.walmart.com

2. Bull Case vs Bear Case

Distilled from the full report below — factual only, no ratings.

Bull Case

• Scale advantage widening: FY2026 total revenue of $713.2bn is ~2.6x the next-largest US grocer Kroger and ~2x next-largest US general merchandiser by store count; this scale lets Walmart absorb tariff and wage pressure rivals cannot.
• E-commerce profitable at scale: Global e-commerce sales grew 24% in Q4 FY26 and now represent 23% of total net sales — a record. Management has stated US e-commerce is now profitable on a stand-alone basis, a milestone Target and Kroger have yet to reach.
• Higher-margin platform businesses: Walmart Connect (advertising) grew 46% in FY26 to nearly $6.4bn; combined with Walmart+, marketplace, Vizio and fulfilment services, the higher-margin "enterprise platforms" stack is reshaping the operating-income mix.
• Cash return acceleration: Board authorised a new $30bn share repurchase programme in February 2026; FY26 buybacks were $8.1bn (85m shares) and the annual dividend was raised 13% to $0.94/share — the largest increase in over a decade.
• Operating-income leverage: FY26 operating income grew 1.6% on 4.7% revenue growth on a GAAP basis but 5.4% adjusted constant-currency — outpacing sales for the first time in several years, driven by mix shift to ads, marketplace and Sam's Club membership.

Bear Case

• Premium valuation: Trailing P/E of ~47x is roughly 60% above Walmart's 10-year median of ~30x and roughly 3x Target's 16x. Any deceleration in e-commerce or advertising growth could compress this multiple.
• CEO transition risk: John Furner took over from Doug McMillon in February 2026 after McMillon's 12-year tenure. Furner has reorganised the C-suite around "enterprise platforms" — execution risk is non-trivial during a leadership change at scale.
• Tariff and consumer headwinds: Walmart sources approximately a third of US merchandise from outside the country (China, Mexico, Vietnam). Tariff changes can pressure gross margin or require price increases that erode unit volume in the low-income consumer segment.
• Capex intensity is rising: Capex jumped from $23.8bn in FY25 to $26.6bn in FY26 (now ~3.7% of sales) as Walmart funds store remodels, automation and AI; if these investments don't yield returns the FCF profile deteriorates.
• Amazon competition in groceries: Amazon's grocery push (Whole Foods, Fresh, Subscribe & Save grocery and same-day grocery rollouts) targets Walmart's strongest US category. Whoever wins consumer grocery share over the next 3–5 years will set retail's structural margin profile.

3. What Does This Company Actually Do?

Walmart operates three reportable segments: Walmart US, Walmart International, and Sam's Club. The vast majority of revenue is generated by selling food, consumables, general merchandise, health & wellness and apparel through physical stores and digital channels. A rapidly growing slice of profit now comes from advertising (Walmart Connect), membership (Walmart+ and Sam's Club), marketplace fees and fulfilment services sold to third-party sellers, and the recently acquired Vizio smart-TV advertising business.

Customers span all income brackets in the US but skew toward middle- and lower-income households who shop weekly for groceries and household essentials. Walmart's US grocery business alone is larger than Kroger, Albertsons and Whole Foods combined, with a national grocery market share of approximately 24% per industry data.

Segment	% of revenue	What it is
Walmart US	~68% ($482bn FY26)	4,600+ stores selling groceries (~60% of US segment sales), general merchandise, apparel and health & wellness. Comp sales grew 4.6% in FY26 with 24% e-commerce growth. Highest-margin US segment.
Walmart International	~18% ($129bn FY26)	Operations across 18 countries outside the US, with the largest contributions from Mexico (Walmex), Canada, China and India (Flipkart/PhonePe). FY26 sales rose ~7% in constant currency.
Sam's Club	~13% ($95bn FY26)	Membership warehouse club competing with Costco; ~600 US locations. Comp sales (ex-fuel) grew double-digits and membership income reached a record high in FY26.
Membership and other income	~1% ($6.75bn FY26)	Walmart+ subscriptions, Sam's Club membership fees, and other non-merchandise revenue streams. Grew 4.7% in FY26.

4. The Business Model

How Walmart makes money. The core engine is high-volume merchandise retail at low gross margin — group gross margin is approximately 24% — relying on the world's largest negotiated buying power to undercut competitors on price. The "Every Day Low Price" model deliberately sacrifices price elasticity for volume and traffic frequency, with grocery (lower margin, higher frequency) acting as the door-opener and general merchandise/apparel (higher margin, lower frequency) attaching to the basket.

Unit economics. FY26 group operating margin was 4.2% (operating income $29.8bn on $713.2bn revenue). This thin margin is intentional and structural; the model relies on $40bn+ annual operating cash flow generated by the sheer volume of transactions. Return on assets was 8.0% in FY26 per the press release.

Moat. Scale is the moat. Walmart's purchasing leverage on suppliers, its distribution network (roughly 150 distribution centres across the US), and its store density (90% of Americans live within 10 miles of a Walmart) create cost advantages competitors cannot replicate. Adding e-commerce on top of these stores converts each store into a fulfilment node — Walmart now offers 1- and 3-hour delivery from stores at lower cost-to-serve than dedicated e-commerce warehouses.

Higher-margin platform layers. Walmart Connect advertising grew 46% in FY26 to ~$6.4bn. This includes display advertising on Walmart.com, sponsored search, and (via the Vizio acquisition completed in 2024) connected-TV advertising. Advertising carries software-like gross margins of 70%+, well above merchandise margins. Marketplace fees, Walmart+ subscriptions and Sam's Club membership all sit in this same higher-margin layer.

Capital allocation. Walmart returned $15.6bn to shareholders in FY26 ($7.5bn dividends + $8.1bn buybacks). The Board authorised a new $30bn share repurchase programme in February 2026. The dividend has been raised every year since 1974, with the FY26 raise being the largest in over a decade.

5. Financial Health

All figures in this section sourced directly from Walmart's Q4 FY26 earnings release (filed 19 February 2026 on SEC EDGAR) and historical 10-K filings retrieved via SEC EDGAR XBRL during this research session. Free cash flow is defined as net cash provided by operating activities minus payments for property and equipment (capex), both from the consolidated statement of cash flows. Long-term debt is the noncurrent portion only (long-term debt due after one year), from the balance sheet — current maturities are reported separately and excluded.

Fiscal year (ending 31 Jan)	Revenue ($bn)	YoY %	GAAP EPS (diluted)	Adjusted EPS	Dividend/share	Long-term debt YE ($bn)
FY2022	572.75	+2.4%	$1.62	—	$0.7333	34.86
FY2023	611.29	+6.7%	$1.42	—	$0.7467	34.65
FY2024	648.12	+6.0%	$1.91	—	$0.76	36.13
FY2025	680.99	+5.1%	$2.41	$2.42	$0.83	33.40
FY2026	713.16	+4.7%	$2.73	$2.64	$0.94	34.62

EPS figures are shown on a post-stock-split basis throughout. Walmart executed a 3-for-1 split effective 26 February 2024. FY23's $1.42 GAAP EPS was depressed by a $3.3bn opioid-related settlement charge; the FY24 recovery and the FY26 step-up to $2.73 reflect both operating improvement and a normalised tax line.

Quarter	Total revenue ($bn)	Adjusted EPS	GAAP EPS (diluted)
Q4 FY26 (ended 31 Jan 2026)	190.66	$0.66	$0.53
Q3 FY26 (ended 31 Oct 2025)	179.50	$0.62	$0.62
Q2 FY26 (ended 31 Jul 2025)	177.40	$0.68	$0.92
Q1 FY26 (ended 30 Apr 2025)	165.61	$0.61	$0.56
FY26 total	713.16	$2.64	$2.73

Q4 GAAP EPS of $0.53 was lower than Q4 FY25's $0.65 because of $2.1bn of "Other (gains) and losses" expense in Q4 driven by mark-to-market investment losses; the adjusted figure of $0.66 strips this and grew 12% YoY.

Cash flow and balance sheet (FY26):

• Operating cash flow: $41.6bn (up from $36.4bn in FY25)
• Capital expenditure: $26.6bn (up from $23.8bn in FY25), funding store remodels, automation and supply-chain investment
• Free cash flow: $14.9bn (FCF = OCF $41.6bn − capex $26.6bn; up from $12.7bn FY25)
• D&A: $14.2bn (added back in operating activities as non-cash)
• Cash and equivalents (31 Jan 2026): $10.7bn
• Long-term debt — noncurrent (31 Jan 2026): $34.6bn per balance sheet (vs $33.4bn at 31 Jan 2025)
• Long-term debt due within one year (current portion): $3.5bn → total debt ~$38.2bn
• Dividends paid: $7.5bn; share buybacks: $8.1bn (85m shares); total returned to shareholders: ~$15.6bn

6. Valuation & Market Data

Raw metrics, May 2026. Not opinions on whether the stock is cheap or expensive.

Metric	Value
Share price (17 May 2026)	~$132 (NYSE close, intraday)
Market cap	~$1.05tn
Enterprise value	~$1.08tn (market cap ~$1.05tn + total debt ~$38.2bn − cash ~$10.7bn per FY2026 balance sheet)
Trailing P/E (GAAP)	~48x ($132 / FY26 GAAP diluted EPS $2.73)
P/E (forward)	~45x (Yahoo Finance, May 2026; based on FY27 adjusted EPS guidance $2.75–$2.85)
P/S (TTM)	~1.47x (market cap ~$1.05tn / FY26 revenue $713.2bn)
EV/EBITDA (TTM)	~24.5x (EV ~$1.08tn / EBITDA ~$44.0bn; EBITDA = operating income $29.8bn + D&A $14.2bn per FY26 income statement and cash flow statement)
P/FCF	~70x (market cap ~$1.05tn / FCF $14.9bn; FCF = OCF $41.6bn − capex $26.6bn per FY26 cash flow statement)
52-week high	$134.69
52-week low	$91.92
Position in range	Near top of 52-week range; above 50- and 200-day SMAs
Dividend yield	~0.7% ($0.94 annualised / ~$132)
Short interest (% of float)	~0.87% (Yahoo Finance, May 2026; ~69.4m shares short)
Days to cover	~3 days (based on average daily volume ~22m shares)

Walmart's P/E of ~48x is approximately 60% above its own 10-year median of ~30x and roughly 3x Target's ~16x P/E. The premium reflects the market's pricing of Walmart's e-commerce profitability, advertising growth, and resilience through tariff and consumer uncertainty — but it also leaves little room for execution disappointment.

7. What Are They Building / What's Coming?

Under new CEO John Furner, Walmart has reorganised its leadership around what it calls "enterprise platforms" — the higher-margin, faster-growing businesses sitting on top of its retail base. Key initiatives the company has announced on the record include:

• Walmart Connect (advertising): Grew 46% in FY26 to ~$6.4bn. Now includes connected-TV inventory via Vizio. Management has stated this is the highest-priority growth platform.
• Walmart+ membership programme: Continues to add subscribers with rapid double-digit growth (exact subscriber count not disclosed). Bundles free shipping, gas discounts, prescription savings, Paramount+ and other perks.
• Sam's Club expansion: Plans to open 15 new US Sam's Club locations through FY27 and a new distribution centre in Texas to support membership and digital growth.
• Automation and AI investment: Capex stepped up to $26.6bn in FY26 (3.7% of sales) from $23.8bn FY25. Funding rollout of robotics, computer-vision shelf scanning, and an internal generative AI platform built on top of multiple LLM providers; the company has said AI is being used in advertising creative, customer service, supply chain optimisation and merchandising.
• Marketplace and fulfilment services: Walmart Marketplace now hosts hundreds of thousands of third-party sellers; Walmart Fulfillment Services (WFS) competes with Amazon FBA.
• Vizio integration: The $2.3bn Vizio acquisition (closed 2024) is now contributing to the advertising business and providing a connected-TV ad inventory channel; management has not separately disclosed Vizio revenue.
• India (Flipkart and PhonePe): Continues to be a key international growth engine. Flipkart remains majority-owned by Walmart; PhonePe was spun out as a separate Indian-domiciled entity in 2022 and is preparing for an IPO (target FY27/early FY28 per market reports).
• $30bn new share repurchase authorisation: Announced February 2026, replacing the prior authorisation; no expiration date.
• FY27 guidance: Management guided constant-currency net sales growth of 3.5%–4.5%, adjusted operating-income growth of 6.0%–8.0%, and adjusted EPS of $2.75–$2.85 (vs $2.64 FY26).

8. Competitive Landscape

Walmart's competitive set spans general-merchandise retail, grocery, e-commerce, and warehouse-club formats. Direct US peers are Costco, Target, Kroger, and Amazon (across both general merchandise and grocery via Whole Foods, Fresh and same-day delivery). International peers vary by market — in the UK, Tesco and Sainsbury's; in Latin America, Walmart's own Walmex is dominant; in India, Reliance Retail competes with Walmart's Flipkart.

Peer	Market cap (May 2026)	Latest FY revenue	P/E (TTM, May 2026)	Primary product / differentiator
Walmart (WMT)	~$1.05tn	$713.2bn (FY26, ended Jan 2026)	~48x	The standard-setter in US discount retail; broadest store footprint and largest US grocer.
Amazon (AMZN)	~$2.84tn	~$638bn (FY24, calendar 2024)	~32x	E-commerce and AWS leader; aggressively pushing groceries via Whole Foods + Amazon Fresh. AWS provides the cash flow Walmart can't match.
Costco (COST)	~$465bn	$269.9bn (FY25, ended Sep 2025)	~55x	Membership-only warehouse club; highest-quality private-label brand (Kirkland), industry-leading customer renewal rates (~92%).
Kroger (KR)	~$43bn	$150.8bn (FY24, ended Feb 2025)	~46x	Largest pure-play US grocer; Walmart's main direct grocery competitor. The blocked Kroger–Albertsons merger (FTC denied 2024) left the field open for Walmart to consolidate share.
Target (TGT)	~$59bn	~$107bn (FY25, ended Feb 2026)	~16x	Smaller general-merchandise retailer with stronger apparel and home positioning; significantly lower valuation reflects weaker recent comp performance.

Walmart's structural advantage is the combination of unmatched grocery scale, an integrated e-commerce + store-as-fulfilment model, and the rapidly scaling higher-margin advertising and platform businesses. Amazon's threat is real but Amazon's grocery business remains sub-scale relative to Walmart's, and Walmart's annual e-commerce sales (~$160bn+ implied at 23% mix) now rival Amazon's North America retail GMV growth rate. The blocked Kroger–Albertsons merger has been a quiet tailwind — the resulting market uncertainty has favoured Walmart's grocery share gains.

9. Leadership and Ownership

CEO — John Furner. Promoted to President and CEO effective 1 February 2026, succeeding Doug McMillon. Furner started at Walmart as an hourly associate in 1993, served in store-operations and merchandising roles, was CEO of Sam's Club from 2017, and led Walmart US (the largest segment, ~$482bn FY26 revenue) from 2019. He has reorganised the C-suite around "enterprise platforms" since taking over.

Outgoing CEO — Doug McMillon. Retired 31 January 2026 after 12 years as CEO. Remains on the Board of Directors until the next annual shareholders' meeting (typically June). McMillon oversaw the e-commerce build-out, Jet.com acquisition and integration, and the Vizio acquisition.

CFO — John David Rainey. Joined from PayPal in 2022. Continuing under Furner.

Walmart US CEO — David Guggina. Promoted from Chief E-Commerce Officer for Walmart US to succeed Furner in the US segment role, effective February 2026.

Walton family ownership. The Walton family — primarily through Walton Enterprises LLC and the Walton Family Holdings Trust — owns approximately 45% of outstanding shares. This concentrated ownership provides governance stability but also means the public float is materially smaller than the market cap implies.

Other major holders (per most recent 13F filings retrieved May 2026): Vanguard ~9%, BlackRock ~6%, State Street ~3%. Total institutional ownership is around 35% of the float (i.e. ~20% of total shares outstanding).

Recent insider transactions (from SEC Form 4 filings, retrieved May 2026):

Name	Date	Type	Shares	Price	Value	Plan Type
C. Douglas McMillon (Director, former CEO)	23 Apr 2026	Sell	19,416	$132.21	$2.57m	10b5-1 (pre-planned)
C. Douglas McMillon (Director, former CEO)	26 Mar 2026	Sell	19,416	~$123.17	$2.39m	10b5-1 (pre-planned)

All disclosed insider transactions in the recent period have been pre-planned 10b5-1 sales by the outgoing CEO McMillon, consistent with a long-standing diversification programme. We found no discretionary insider buys in the past 12 months. Following the 23 April 2026 sale, McMillon directly held ~4.19m shares with significant additional indirect holdings through family trusts and his 401(k).

10. Risks and Challenges

• Premium valuation (Financial): Trailing P/E of ~48x is well above the 10-year median of ~30x. Any meaningful slowdown in e-commerce, advertising or Sam's Club comp growth could compress this premium.
• CEO transition execution (Operational): Furner's reorganisation of the C-suite and reorientation around "enterprise platforms" is a step-change in operating model less than four months in. Reorgs of this scale often cause near-term disruption.
• Tariff and trade-policy exposure (Macro): Walmart sources roughly a third of its US merchandise from China, Mexico, and Vietnam. Tariff escalation forces a margin/price trade-off; absorbing costs hits margin and passing them on can dampen unit volume in lower-income segments.
• Amazon competitive pressure in groceries (Operational): Amazon's grocery push (Fresh, Whole Foods, same-day grocery) is targeted directly at Walmart's strongest US category. Long-term grocery share is the biggest battleground.
• Wage-cost inflation (Operational): ~2.1m employees globally; US average store wages have risen materially over the past five years. Continued wage pressure (state-mandated minimum wages, organising activity) presses operating margin.
• Capex intensity (Financial): Capex stepped from $23.8bn in FY25 to $26.6bn FY26 (3.7% of sales). If automation and AI investments don't generate proportionate returns, FCF compression follows.
• Regulatory and litigation risk (Regulatory): Walmart is subject to continuous FTC, state attorney general, employment-law, and product-safety litigation. The $3.3bn opioid settlement in FY23 illustrates the scale of potential legal exposure.
• India regulation (Regulatory): Flipkart faces ongoing scrutiny from Indian competition authorities and the foreign-investment regime. The PhonePe IPO timeline depends on regulatory clearance.
• Investment portfolio mark-to-market (Financial): Walmart's "Other (gains) and losses" line was a $2.1bn expense in Q4 FY26 driven by mark-to-market losses on equity investments (largely JD.com legacy stake and other holdings). These items can create quarter-to-quarter GAAP EPS volatility unrelated to operating performance.
• Cybersecurity (Cyber): As one of the world's largest e-commerce operators and a financial-services issuer via Walmart MoneyCenters, a major breach would carry both direct cost and reputational consequences.
• Walton family ownership concentration (Governance): The Walton family controls ~45% of outstanding shares; corporate decisions depend materially on family alignment. While historically stable, this is a concentration risk.

11. Recent Developments

• 17 May 2026 — Q1 FY27 earnings preview. Earnings due 21 May (4 days). Consensus expects EPS of ~$0.65 on revenue of ~$174.65bn; management guided EPS of $0.63–$0.65 and constant-currency sales growth of 3.5%–4.5%.
• 23 Apr 2026 — Walmart Releases 2026 Annual Report and Proxy Statement. Annual meeting scheduled for June 2026; proxy statement filed with SEC.
• 23 Apr 2026 — Director McMillon Form 4 filing. Sold 19,416 shares at $132.21 under a 10b5-1 plan, value $2.57m.
• 26 Mar 2026 — Director McMillon Form 4 filing. Sold 19,416 shares for $2.39m under same 10b5-1 plan.
• 19 Feb 2026 — Q4 FY26 earnings released. Total revenue $190.7bn (+5.6% YoY), full-year revenue $713.2bn (+4.7%). Global e-commerce sales +24% in Q4. GAAP diluted EPS $0.53 (depressed by $2.1bn investment-loss item); adjusted EPS $0.66. Dividend raised 13% to $0.94/share, the largest increase in over a decade. New $30bn share repurchase authorisation announced.
• 1 Feb 2026 — John Furner becomes CEO. Doug McMillon retired the prior day; Furner began his first day as CEO on 1 February.
• 14 Nov 2025 — Furner CEO succession announced. Board elected John Furner as next President and CEO, effective 1 February 2026. David Guggina elevated to Walmart US CEO.
• 20 Nov 2025 — Q3 FY26 earnings released. Total revenue $179.5bn (+5.8% YoY); seventh consecutive quarter of e-commerce growth above 20%. FY26 guidance raised.
• 21 Aug 2025 — Q2 FY26 earnings released. Total revenue $177.4bn (+4.8% reported, +5.6% constant currency); adjusted EPS $0.68 (+1.5% YoY).
• 15 May 2025 — Q1 FY26 earnings released. Total revenue ~$165.6bn (US net sales $108.7bn). Diluted GAAP EPS $0.56. Global e-commerce grew 22%. Furner-as-CEO-elect transition discussions noted.

12. Key Dates Coming Up

• 21 May 2026 — Q1 FY27 earnings release and pre-market conference call (CEO John Furner's first earnings call as CEO).
• 05 Jun 2026 — Annual shareholder meeting (expected first Friday of June at Bentonville HQ; date to be confirmed via proxy filing).
• 14 May 2026 — Most recent dividend payment date (Q1 FY27); next ex-dividend expected ~early August 2026.
• 20 Aug 2026 — Q2 FY27 earnings (expected late August; date to be confirmed at corporate.walmart.com/news/events).
• 19 Nov 2026 — Q3 FY27 earnings (expected mid-to-late November; date to be confirmed).
• 18 Feb 2027 — Q4/full-year FY27 earnings (expected mid-February); widely-watched holiday-quarter print.

For live charts of WMT see our Live Charts page; macro catalysts for the next month are tracked on the Economic Calendar; community discussion is on the ChartsView Forum.

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