What Walmart said about the US consumer and inflation

  • US comp sales: +4.0%
  • “Our general merchandise prices are lower than they were a year ago.”
  • “In Walmart U.S, we’re there in general merchandise but the slope of the decline softened during Q4 meaning the prices are lower than a year ago but not as much as the trend line would have suggested at the end of Q3”
  • Overall sales up 0.8% y/y
  • General merchandise sales declined compared to a year ago but improved vs Q3
  • Outside the US, our pricing comparisons to a year ago are in more of a normal range
  • US inventory declined 4.5%
  • The Company’s guidance assumes a generally stable
    consumer and continued pressure from its mix of products and formats globally.
  • Sees Q1 sales up 4.0-5.0% with the Leap Year adding 100 bps
  • Sees FY 2025 sales up 3.0-4.0%

Company comps by month:

  • November: -2.7%
  • December: +0.6%
  • January: -9.1%

The drop in January underscores the surprise drop in retail sales but argues it’s weather related not macro. If that’s the case, there should be a strong rebound in February due to unusually warm weather in the month.

This article was written by Adam Button at www.forexlive.com.

ConsumerInflationWalmart
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