While rivals remain wary of slowing consumer demand, Walmart just keeps growing amid a challenging macro environment.
The retail giant posted another strong quarter in August, and the numbers tell a clear story. Shoppers are choosing Walmart (WMT), and they are not just buying groceries anymore.
Behind the scenes, Walmart is turning itself into something much bigger than a discount retailer.
It is becoming an advertising powerhouse, a streaming TV player and an ecommerce engine all at once.
The combination is reshaping how investors should think about the blue-chip stock.
Walmart stock climbs as shoppers stay loyal
Walmart Chief Financial Officer John David Rainey told analysts on a buy-side call in August that the underlying consumer picture has held steady, even with some new pressure from higher fuel prices.
Describing the state of the U.S. shopper, Rainey explained:
“They’re holding up. They’re resilient. They’re still spending.”
That resilience is showing up in the results.
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Walmart’s global enterprise grew 5.1% on a constant-currency basis in the most recent quarter, ahead of the roughly 4% average growth target the company set at its last investor day.
Grocery, general merchandise and health and wellness categories are all contributing to market share gains, according to Senior Director of Investor Relations Kary Brunner.
Online sales have grown more than 20% for several quarters in a row, and marketplace sales, meaning items sold by third-party sellers on Walmart’s site, jumped 50% for the second straight quarter.
Why Walmart shoppers keep coming back
Price is still the biggest draw. Walmart has leaned hard into rollbacks this year, using savings from tariff refunds to cut prices across the store.
The company had about 11,000 active rollbacks recently, compared with 7,400 a year earlier.
Executives say the goal is simple: win back price-sensitive shoppers and keep them coming back for everyday items like groceries and school supplies.
A few things are driving that shopper loyalty right now:
- Faster delivery, with many orders arriving same day or within 30 minutes
- A wave of price cuts on electronics, meat, seafood, and produce
- Strong back to college sales, which the company sees as an early read on back to school demand
- A pharmacy business that keeps customers coming back to refill prescriptions
- A growing shopping app used for everything from checkout to in-store navigation
Walmart sells a sizable portion of the nation’s school supplies, giving it an early and reliable window into how families are spending.
Rainey called the back-to-college season a strong showing and said it supports the company’s outlook for the rest of the year.
Walmart’s ad business is the secret weapon
Walmart’s fastest-growing segment is advertising.
Walmart Connect, the company’s ad arm, grew roughly 40% in each of the last two quarters.
That business now carries margins above 70%, compared with about 5% for the core retail business, according to Ryan Mayward, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Walmart Connect U.S.
Mayward said the company has spent the last several years shifting from acting like a traditional publisher, selling ad space to a small group of big brands, to running a full self-serve advertising platform that works for advertisers big and small.
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The recent acquisition of streaming TV company VIZIO is central to that push. VIZIO’s operating system is now the top-selling smart TV platform in the country, giving Walmart a direct line into millions of living rooms.
Combined with the earlier purchase of ad tech company Vibe, Walmart can now sell ads to small local businesses, like car dealerships or restaurants, that never bought TV ads before.
“We’re excited about the VIZIO acquisition,” Mayward said, adding that Walmart is also bringing in brands that do not even sell products at Walmart, a category the company calls non-endemic advertising, including insurance companies and quick-serve restaurants.
What it means for Walmart stock investors
In the most recent quarter, 45% of Walmart’s operating income growth came from advertising, membership and marketplace combined. These businesses carry much fatter margins than selling groceries or clothing.
A product-mix shift is a big reason profitability keeps improving even as the core retail comp growth stays in a familiar 3% to 4% range.
There are still headwinds.
Drug pricing changes tied to a federal program are costing Walmart about 125 basis points this year, and rising fuel costs are adding more than $2 billion in expenses. Management insists these pressures are manageable and, in some cases, temporary.
No single dramatic announcement is driving the stock. Instead, Walmart is winning in small, steady ways, on price, on speed, on advertising and on trust.
For shoppers, that shows up as lower prices and faster delivery. For investors, it shows up as a retailer that keeps growing profit faster than sales, one quarter at a time.
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