The combination of the July U.S. retail sales report and comments from Walmart executives is a powerful statement about the health of the American and global consumer. It has better data than any U.S. statistical agency, and it is often forthright about what it sees.
Here are some quotes from the conference call that has now ended:
- Doug McMillon (CEO): “So far, we haven’t seen a weakness in our overall consumption.”
- John David Rennie (CFO): “I know everyone is looking for some information that might indicate further vulnerability to our members and customers, and we are not in that.”
- Rennie: “Our outlook for the second half of the year is really more of a continuation of what we saw even in the first two weeks of August here, where things were remarkably consistent.”
- Rene: “We are seeing higher participation across income groups, with higher-income households continuing to see the majority of gains even as sales and share grow among middle- and lower-income households.”
- U.S. CEO John Furner: “Back-to-school season has been off to a strong start over the past couple of weeks. I and a number of operators have been visiting stores across the country, seeing how they’re preparing for back-to-college and back-to-school. About 50% of our customers still say they have a lot of shopping left. We’ve uploaded over 2 million school lists to the site. So we still have a lot of steam ahead of us. So a good start.”
Walmart Inc. raised its sales forecast for the fiscal year ending in March, with comments suggesting it remains cautious.
Rennie: “The economic and geopolitical backdrop in which we operate is perhaps more uncertain than usual, and we are not entirely immune to the volatility that may result. While we have not seen any additional consumer health impact on our business, other available economic data, as well as the state of affairs globally, suggest that it is prudent to remain appropriately cautious with our outlook.