Here are five key things investors need to know to start the trading day.
Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT, XETRA:WMT) shares fell more than 3% in premarket trading on Thursday after the world's largest retailer issued a cautious annual outlook that disappointed Wall Street, despite posting solid fourth-quarter results in new chief executive John Furner's first earnings report. Revenue for the final three months of 2025 rose 5.6% year on year to $190.7 billion, while operating income grew 10.8%, outpacing sales growth, and global e-commerce jumped 24% to reach a record share of US sales.
Walmart posted 5.6% revenue growth in the fourth quarter, led by higher transactions, cooling grocery inflation and record digital penetration.
Retail earnings growth cools, but DG, WMT, HD and DLTR stand out with positive Earnings ESPs ahead of holiday-quarter results.
The consumer staples sector exists because people need to eat, clean, and maintain routines regardless of what the economy does.
Walmart and Target both have new CEOs, but those leaders find themselves in distinctly different positions. At Walmart, CEO John Furner's job is "to keep the ship steady," and at Target, CEO Michael Fiddelke has to "sell the Target of the future," said Neil Saunders, managing director and retail analyst at GlobalData.
Walmart is set to report fourth-quarter earnings before the opening bell Thursday, with traders anticipating the retail giant's stock could climb to new highs following the results.
With their stocks spiking around 30% in the past three months, investors are largely anticipating Q4 results from Walmart and Target after a record holiday shopping season.
Walmart (WMT) isn't actually classified as a technology stock, though it's certainly been behaving like one over the last several years, particularly as it continues to build out its online/digital e-commerce platform.
Walmart is slated to report its fourth-quarter numbers Thursday, releasing its first results since joining the Nasdaq and hiring a new CEO.
Walmart Earnings Preview: Tariff Compares Should Get Easier, But Valuation Still Quite Lofty
Depending on the source, Walmart (NYSE: WMT | WMT Price Prediction) has ranked as the largest company in the US based on the Fortune 500 for either 13 or 14 consecutive years.