Walmart Inc. is clicking — with the retail giant topping fourth-quarter earnings projections as it hit an e-commerce milestone for the year.
Doug McMillon, president and chief executive officer, crowed in a statement: “We crossed $100 billion in ecommerce sales and drove share gains as our customer experience metrics improved, even during our highest volume days leading up to the holidays.”
That $100 billion represented a 23 percent increase in e-commerce last year as the brick and mortar giant continued to up its game against the online leader Amazon.
And Walmart is getting techier still, revealing a $2.3 billion deal to buy connected home and television company Vizio on Tuesday, looking to solidify its growth — something that could be a harder task this year with revenue trends moderating.
Fourth-quarter adjusted earnings — which factor out gains on Walmart’s own investments — came in at $1.80 a share, or 16 cents ahead of the $1.64 analysts expected, according to FactSet. Still, net income fell 12.4 percent to $5.5 billion.
Revenues for the quarter ended Jan. 26 increased 5.7 percent to $173.4 billion, with a 23 percent gain in e-commerce sales and a 33 percent boost in the company’s advertising business, an area that’s being closely watched as a growth center.
Comparable sales in the Walmart U.S. business rose 4 percent with the company citing strength in grocery and health & wellness, which was offset by “softness in general merchandise.”
General merchandise comps were down by low-single digits with softness in home, seasonal goods and toys that was attributed to deflation, or falling prices.
But there was an increase in the number of units sold in fashion, home and hardlines, pointing to market share gains in a tougher pricing environment.
Excluding the fuel business, the number of transactions logged by Walmart U.S. grew by 4.3 percent gain in transactions, while average ticket prices slipped 0.3 percent.
For the full year, Walmart’s overall revenues gained 6 percent to $648.1 billion.
The retail giant expects to keep adding to that this year, albeit at a slower pace, with net sales this year pegged for an increase of 3 percent to 4 percent.
