Here’s what Wall Street experts are saying about Walmart ahead of earnings

Walmart (WMT) is scheduled to report results of its second quarter before the market open on Thursday, August 21, with a conference call scheduled for 8:00 am EDT. What to watch for:

GUIDANCE: After delivering what the company called a “solid” first quarter, Walmart backed its fiscal 2026 guidance calling for adjusted earnings per share of $2.50-$2.60, on revenue up 3%-4%, and adjusted operating income up 3.5%-5.5%. Analysts currently expect EPS of $2.64 on revenue of $699.23B. For the second quarter, Walmart predicted net sales to be up 3.5%-4.5% including a tailwind of approximately 20 basis points from the acquisition of VIZIO.

Guggenheim expects the company to report strong Q2 results and believes the stock’s valuation has room for multiple expansion. Walmart is gaining share in consumables, its compares are easing, and tariffs should benefit gross margin, the analyst tells investors in a research note. Following a more difficult backdrop to start the year due to unexpected tariff and expense headwinds, Oppenheimer believes a positive guidance revision cycle could again materialize soon. The firm is now anchored to the high-end of management’s FY25 guidance range of $2.50-$2.60. Oppenheimer believes the company could lift FY25 financial targets either with the upcoming Q2 report or with the Q3 print.

‘GENERALLY SOLID’: Evercore ISI said that the timing of Trump 2.0 policies creates uncertainties into the Q2 earnings season for large cap retailers, but Q2 was “generally” solid, with early tariff pass through and limited price elasticity allowing nominal demand to hold up.

Meanwhile, BofA said in an earnings preview note that Walmart is well-positioned to manage tariffs given its scale with suppliers, advanced pricing, automation, and inventory management, as well as the potential to shift imported first party goods to third party, and lower import exposure vs. many peers

AMAZON GROCERY EXPANSION: Amazon (AMZN) is expanding its grocery selection to Amazon.com and is effectively lowering the cost of delivery and minimum basket size in latest efforts to drive more of the $1.5T offline grocery opportunity, Morgan Stanley said. The firm believes Amazon has been losing “modest” online grocery share to Walmart, DoorDash (DASH), and Uber (UBER) due to to price, selection, convenience, delivery, and pick-up options, and thinks this category expansion and effective price reduction is an important signal of increased investment to drive durably faster growth. The grocery opportunity is large, but the extent to which Amazon increases competition could eventually challenge growth or profitability of peers, the firm argues, noting that among all grocers, Walmart has the most demonstrable track record of share gains and that it has been preparing for this risk over the last decade.

AI AMBITIONS: In July, Walmart hired Instacart (CART) Chief Product Officer Daniel Danker as head of global AI acceleration, product, and design, starting next month and reporting to CEO Doug McMillon, The Wall Street Journal’s Sarah Nassauer and Haley Zimmerman reported. Walmart is also adding an AI platform leader that will report to global CTO Suresh Kumar. “These new roles reflect our ambition to move smarter and faster,” McMillon said in a memo to staff.

SENTIMENT: Click here to check out recent Media Buzz Sentiment on Walmart as measured by TipRanks.