Walmart Inc.

US e-commerce growth has run at about 10% year-on-year through the first three quarters of 2026, beating Bernstein's 8% forecast made at the start of the year, the broker said. Bernstein estimates third-quarter growth at about 8.4%, with second and third quarter growth combined at about 10.4% after adjusting for the timing of Prime Day, while first-quarter growth was 9.7%. The broker pointed to better digital advertising, resilient consumer spending and less aggressive competition from online retailers such as Temu and Shein, and sees the advertising improvement as a potentially lasting tailwind. The top 14 US e-commerce platforms accounted for about 82% of gross merchandise value in the second quarter, up roughly 3 percentage points from a year earlier, with Shopify's share rising to 14.2% from 13.2%, Walmart's to 8.7% from 7.8% and Amazon's to 42.9% from 42.3%. Bernstein estimates second-quarter growth of 52% for Carvana, 25% for Walmart, 24% for eBay and 21% for Shopify, against 14% for Amazon and 12% for the overall market, and rates Amazon, Shopify and Wayfair outperform while eBay and Etsy are rated market perform.

Walmart, Target and Dollar General each booked tariff refunds as a second-quarter earnings tailwind, using the proceeds to fund price investments and customer-focused initiatives. Walmart received substantially all of its eligible tariff refunds, totaling approximately $2.9 billion, or about 0.5% of annual U.S. net sales, helping lift its second-quarter consolidated gross profit rate 96 basis points to 25.4% and contributing an approximately 750-basis-point benefit to operating income growth. Target recognized $994 million in International Emergency Economic Powers Act tariff refunds as a reduction in the cost of sales, a benefit of 3.7 percentage points to its gross margin of 33.7% and $1.65 to adjusted earnings per share, and it expects fiscal 2026 operating margin to include about 90 basis points of benefit from the second-quarter refunds. Dollar General said gross profit as a percentage of sales rose 127 basis points year over year to 32.6%, with tariff refunds contributing approximately 81 basis points after related reinvestments, while operating profit rose 29.2% to $769.2 million and adjusted earnings per share increased 33% to $2.48, including an estimated 25 cents from refunds. Dollar General received the majority of expected tariff refunds during the quarter and does not expect a material impact from refunds after reinvestments in the second half of fiscal 2026.

Constellation Energy Corporation announced a 20-year power purchase agreement with Amazon covering 690 megawatts of power, including approximately 190 megawatts of new nuclear capacity at the Calvert Cliffs Clean Energy Center. The agreement is expected to enable more than $3 billion in Maryland infrastructure investments, including improvements across the plant's entire 1,790-megawatt generating capacity, with the capacity expansion expected to be completed between 2030 and 2032. The deal will provide Constellation with revenue certainty to support the relicensing of Calvert Cliffs for another 20 years. In the second quarter of 2026, the company signed approximately 920 megawatts of long-term power purchase agreements with diverse, investment-grade customers, with an average duration of 18.5 years and expected full ramp-up by 2032, and also signed a 176-megawatt agreement with Walmart including 30 megawatts of expanded capacity at the Dresden Clean Energy Center. Constellation invested $2.52 billion in the first six months of 2026 and expects capital expenditures of approximately $5.7 billion in 2026 and $4.7 billion in 2027.

The US rice industry, led by the USA Rice Federation, is systematically ramping up domestically grown jasmine rice to reduce its reliance on imports from Thailand. Each year the US imports roughly 1.5 million tons of rice worth about 1.5 billion US dollars, and as much as approximately 800,000 tons of that is Thai jasmine rice. In 2026, the US expanded its jasmine rice planting area to a record high of about 50,000 acres, or roughly 126,400 rai, triggering a shortage of seed. Six states, namely Arkansas, California, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Texas, are now all producing jasmine rice. The jasmine rice market is expanding at an average of 4% per year and is expected to grow to 7% by 2030. Walmart has announced it is the first retailer to switch its sourcing to domestically grown rice, while Kroger is moving in the same direction. A campaign during National Rice Month in September 2025 drove sales of domestically produced jasmine rice up 8.9% year on year and 5% month on month. The Thai Trade Center in Chicago warns that Thailand must adopt a more proactive strategy, focusing on preserving the value of Thai Hom Mali Rice rather than competing on price cuts.

Recess is working with Walmart to build out a new dedicated functional beverage set focused on Mood & Mind, marking a milestone for the relaxation category the brand pioneered. Recess Mood Singles and 4-Packs will be available as part of the new set across more than 1,000 Walmart stores, focused on the brand's top-selling SKUs and featuring the new Pink Lemonade 12oz single. Walmart U.S. Vice President of Beverage Brian Salmon said Recess helped define relaxation beverages and was a must-have for the assortment, which organizes products by the occasions they serve. Recess founder and co-CEO Ben Witte said Walmart is seeing the opportunity in its own shopper data, and co-CEO and President Kyle Thomas called the expansion proof of an exploding category rather than something niche. According to SPINS, mood support beverages are growing faster than other functional beverage segments including gut health, protein support, energy and hydration. Recess launched in 2018 and is available on Amazon and in more than 15,000 retail doors nationwide, including Walmart, Target, Costco, Sprouts, Albertsons and Kroger.

Unwind, a new functional beverage brand from Nowadays founders Justin Tidwell and Anthony Puterman, debuted today in approximately 1,000 Walmart stores nationwide and on TikTok Shop. The launch builds on Nowadays, the THC beverage company the pair started in 2023 and scaled to more than $100 million in sales in three and a half years. Unwind is a 12-ounce sparkling functional beverage with magnesium L-threonate, formulated by Magtein, and L-theanine, offering zero caffeine, low sugar and low calories in five varieties: Berry, Cherry, Citrus, Tropical and Spicy Lime, with suggested retail pricing starting at $2.79 per can and $10.99 per four-pack. The Walmart rollout is the first phase of a national retail strategy, with additional national retail rollouts already scheduled for early 2027, and TikTok Shop direct-to-consumer shipping to follow in mid-October. The launch will be supported by a national marketing campaign including paid media, PR, creator partnerships, sampling events and in-store activations.

Neutonic, the productivity drink brand co-founded by Modern Wisdom podcast host Chris Williamson and fitness entrepreneur James Smith, is expanding into nearly 1,000 Walmart stores across the U.S. as part of the retailer's new Mood & Mind beverage set, the company's largest retail expansion to date. The rollout, beginning October 3rd, marks the U.S. retail debut of Neutonic's refreshed can design and its newly launched four-pack format, a first for the brand, alongside refrigerated and shelf-stable single-serve drinks. Four-packs will be available in Blue Raspberry, Tropical Ice, Strawberry Lemonade and Wild Citrus, plus a variety pack featuring Tropical Ice and Strawberry Lemonade, with singles starting at $2.97 and four-packs at $9.96. Walmart U.S. Vice President of Beverage Brian Salmon said Neutonic brings a distinct point of view and dedicated customer base to the beverage aisle, and that the collaboration includes exclusive four-pack options. Neutonic's zero-sugar formula combines 120mg of natural caffeine with Cognizin Citicoline, L-Theanine, Alpha GPC and Panax Ginseng, and the brand was co-founded in 2023 by Williamson, Smith, Luke Betts and Shan Hanif.

Meta Platforms is expanding its Muse AI product into a small-business offering and weighing new fees and subscriptions, President and Vice Chairman Dina Powell McCormick told CNBC on Wednesday. McCormick said Muse has become the No. 1 downloaded app on the App Store, with millions of downloads since launch, and that unlike traditional AI tools it can act on users' behalf by planning travel, handling tasks and completing transactions. The new Muse for Small Business can start customer conversations, manage cash flow and inventory, build websites and communicate directly with customers, giving Meta access to roughly 200 million small-business owners already using its platforms. McCormick cited Meta's 3.6 billion daily users and said the company is considering charging a fee when Muse helps users save money, and could pursue subscriptions as engagement increases. Meta is integrating partners including Shopify, Slack and Walmart into Muse, and McCormick said small businesses using it report reclaiming one to three hours each day.

Costco Wholesale Corporation reported U.S. comparable sales growth of 10.7% year over year in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, outpacing its overall comparable sales growth of 9.4%. Adjusted U.S. comparable sales, excluding gasoline prices and foreign exchange, rose 7.2%, with U.S. comparable traffic up 3.2% and the average ticket up 7.3%; on an adjusted basis, traffic growth held at 3.2% while adjusted ticket growth was 3.9%. Management said member spending remained resilient, with adjusted comparable sales excluding gas and foreign exchange consistently running in the 6%-7% range, and named nonfood as the strongest-performing category. The company also implemented price reductions on select everyday items as part of efforts to return value to members following tariff refunds. Separately, Walmart U.S. comp sales rose 2.6% in the second quarter of fiscal 2027 on a 1.5% increase in transactions and a 1.1% rise in average ticket, with U.S. e-commerce sales up 24%, while Target posted comparable sales growth of 3.8% in the second quarter of fiscal 2026 on a 3.6% increase in comparable traffic and an 8.7% rise in digital comparable sales.

Walmart Inc. reported roughly 40% growth in U.S. store-fulfilled delivery in its fiscal second-quarter results released August 20. In a May 28 announcement, the company outlined delivery in 30 minutes or less across 33 U.S. markets, with a $10 fee for Walmart+ members, a service targeting immediate needs such as forgotten groceries. U.S. e-commerce sales rose 24% in the quarter, and management cited improved e-commerce economics among the drivers of segment operating income growth. The open question for investors is whether delivery fees and merchandise profit cover picking and delivery costs when shoppers buy only a few items, since a small order still requires someone to select, prepare, and deliver it. The $10 fee gives Walmart a direct revenue source beyond merchandise, but waiving or discounting it could encourage demand while weakening the revenue available to pay for fulfillment.

Costco Wholesale Corporation received $184 million related to International Emergency Economic Powers Act tariffs in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, comprising $174 million of refunds and $10 million of interest, which management said represented a little more than one-third of the total refunds expected. The tariff refunds, net of partial reinvestment in member value, contributed a nonrecurring benefit of 15 cents per share in the quarter; excluding that benefit, net income and earnings per share rose 12.3% and 12.4%, respectively, while refunds and related reinvestment added nine basis points to gross margin. Costco intends to reinvest the majority of future refunds in increased member value, primarily through lower prices, after directing fourth-quarter investments into produce, meat, beverages, home furnishings and hardware. Walmart Inc. said tariff refunds lifted gross profit and operating income in the second quarter of fiscal 2027, with operating income receiving an approximately 750-basis-point net benefit after price investments, while Target Corporation recognized $994 million of pretax tariff refunds in its second-quarter fiscal 2026, adding $752 million to net earnings and $1.65 to earnings per share and contributing 3.7 percentage points to both gross margin and operating margin. Costco's forward 12-month price-to-earnings ratio stands at 40.59 versus the industry's 27.39, and the Zacks Consensus Estimate for current fiscal-year earnings has risen 7 cents to $22.57 per share, with next fiscal year up 25 cents to $24.71 per share.

Walmart Inc. reported that global membership fee revenues rose 17% year over year in the second quarter of fiscal 2027, reaching an all-time high, as membership becomes a more meaningful contributor to its overall business. Walmart+ posted double-digit growth in the United States on record second-quarter net additions and its strongest first-half membership growth since launch, while Walmart U.S. membership and other income rose 15.6%. Sam's Club U.S. membership fee revenues increased nearly 6% on steady member-account growth and higher Plus penetration, international membership fee revenues climbed 28%, Sam's Club China reached record member counts, and Walmart launched Walmart+ in Canada during the quarter. Walmart noted that members spend approximately four times more than non-members, and membership revenues contributed to improving Walmart U.S. e-commerce economics alongside advertising, delivery-network density, fee-based expedited delivery and automation. The company, which competes with Costco Wholesale Corporation and Target Corporation, carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), and the Zacks Consensus Estimate implies current fiscal-year sales and earnings per share growth of 5.3% and 8.7%, respectively.

Walmart opened its latest Neighborhood Market store last week in Mesquite, Texas, continuing the expansion of its smaller, grocery-focused store chain. Over the past five years, the retail giant has invested more than $2.5B in Texas stores and plans to remodel 72 locations across the state in 2026. Walmart Neighborhood Market began with three stores in Arkansas in 1998, including one in the company's home city of Bentonville, and the chain now stands at a reported tally of 674 stores in the U.S. This year the company is testing remodels at several Neighborhood Markets, with expanded deli and hot-bar offerings, improved lighting, pharmacy delivery, and better space for fulfilling online grocery orders. Looking ahead, Walmart expects approximately 20 new store openings across its U.S. formats in 2026 and early 2027, part of a broader commitment made in 2024 to open or convert more than 150 locations over five years.

Walmart reported $187.9 billion in revenue for its second quarter of fiscal 2027, a 5.9% year-over-year increase, with global e-commerce up 23%, advertising revenue up 38%, membership-fee revenue up 17%, and U.S. fast delivery up 48%. U.S. comparable sales excluding fuel rose just 2.6%, the company's slowest quarterly pace in six years, while U.S. e-commerce sales climbed 24%. Institutional sentiment remains strong, with 111 hedge funds holding positions at the end of Q2 2026 versus 99 in Q1 2026, and short interest at 1.08%. BlackRock is the largest institutional stakeholder with 354.2 million shares, or 4.44% of outstanding shares, followed by Vanguard Capital Management at 3.59% and State Street Corporation at 2.36%. The company's push into restaurant delivery through partnerships such as Papa John's remains an untested, low-margin strategy, though roughly 90% of Americans live within 10 miles of a Walmart store.

Walmart confirmed a CEO transition to John Furner, succeeding Doug McMillon, keeping the leadership bench inside the company's existing omni-channel playbook. Alongside the handover, the retailer is expanding debt-free, paid training programs aimed at in-demand roles across its retail and supply chain operations, including associate-to-driver, technician, and optician pathways. Walmart positions these education pathways as a tool for internal career progression and to address critical skills gaps, linking labor policy to its push into faster delivery and digital services. The company operates retail and wholesale stores, membership clubs, ecommerce sites, and mobile apps worldwide, giving management a large front-line workforce to redeploy through training. The article was produced by Simply Wall St.

Google has begun testing a way for shoppers in India to buy products from Walmart-owned Flipkart directly through Gemini and AI Mode, as the search giant looks to expand its AI services from product discovery into transactions. Users in the test see a Buy button on select Flipkart product listings in Gemini and Google's AI Mode, which takes them directly to a Flipkart checkout flow without leaving the AI interface, according to people familiar with the matter and an experience seen by TechCrunch. The early test is limited to some users and a small selection of products, including smartphones, electronics, and mobile accessories, and Google plans to roll out the experience more broadly later in October, ahead of India's festive shopping season, one of the people said. The test comes as Google and rivals including OpenAI add commerce capabilities to their AI offerings, and it appears different from the Google-hosted checkout experience the company demonstrated earlier, bringing up a Flipkart-branded checkout flow when a user taps the Buy button. Google has a financial relationship with Flipkart alongside its technology partnership, having invested about $350 million in the e-commerce company in 2024 as part of a funding round led by the U.S. retailer, taking a minority stake.

Walmart is expanding its debt-free upskilling programs that train frontline associates for higher-paid roles, with its flagship Associate to Driver program having moved more than 1,000 employees into driving jobs since launching in 2022. First-year drivers in the program can earn up to $115,000 annually and more experienced drivers up to $135,000, according to the company, while drivers across Walmart's Private Fleet of more than 17,000 drivers earn an average of about $109,000. The retailer has also launched Associate to Technician and Associate to Optician pathways, with the technician program having already trained and placed about 600 of a committed 4,000 technicians by 2030, and the optician pilot, launched in June, estimated to save each participant about $20,000 in tuition. Walmart Chief Talent Officer Lorraine Stomski said the programs connect training directly to jobs the company needs to fill, and the Associate to Driver effort was sparked partly by an American Trucking Associations estimate of an 80,000-driver shortage in 2021 and an upcoming wave of Walmart driver retirements. The push comes as the average total cost of a four-year degree reaches $108,584, according to the Education Data Initiative, and only one in four adults without a college degree believe people can access an affordable, quality education, according to a Gallup and Lumina Foundation report.

A Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta survey found that most U.S. companies are keeping their tariff refunds rather than passing them to consumers, with only 14.8% intending to lower prices and 17.2% planning consumer rebates. The U.S. Treasury had issued nearly $135 billion in tariff refunds by mid-September, out of $166 billion collected by U.S. Customs and Border Protection from 330,000 importers before the Supreme Court declared President Donald Trump's Liberation Day tariffs illegal. Walmart received a $2.9 billion refund, Apple $2.2 billion, Nike $986 million, Target $994 million, Home Depot $730 million, Amazon $600 million, General Motors $500 million, TJX $331 million, Lowe's $80 million and Motorola $60 million. The survey found 75.2% of companies plan to hold onto their refunds, with 52.5% planning to invest in research and development or capital projects, and the refunds represent an average 1.7% of annual revenues. Walmart has pledged to use its refund to cut prices, while FedEx set up a tariff refund portal for eligible customers and UPS is also offering refunds to customers. Consumers have launched class-action lawsuits against companies including Nike, and Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are pressing the Trump administration to include consumer relief and plan refunds if the court strikes down new tariffs, including up to 12.5% tariffs on imports from 86 countries and 50% tariffs on a variety of Canadian products.

Meta Platforms has overtaken SpaceX to become the world's seventh-largest public company by market capitalization, as excitement builds around its new AI agent, Muse. At Thursday's close, Meta's market cap was roughly $1.72 trillion, ahead of SpaceX's $1.14 trillion, according to Yahoo Finance data. Muse launched on Sept. 8 and quickly climbed to No. 1 on Apple's U.S. App Store, with its 12-day iOS download period outpacing OpenAI's ChatGPT's comparable launch window; the app is free for most users, with $20 and $100 monthly tiers for heavier use, and Meta has struck integration deals with retailers including Walmart, Sephora, Best Buy, and Wayfair. Meta shares have surged more than 27% since Muse launched, pushing the stock up 19.55% year-to-date, while SpaceX shares have declined 8.03% from their debut-day closing price following its June IPO, the largest on record. JPMorgan's Doug Anmuth said Muse has the potential to become the most widely used consumer AI application since ChatGPT, while Evercore's Mark Mahaney expects the app could reach 100 million users within six to 12 months. Meta closed 4.50% higher on Thursday at $777.59, and now trails only Nvidia at $5.42 trillion and Apple at $4.9 trillion among the world's most valuable public companies.

Walmart is turning Scintilla from an analytics product into a supplier operating tool, combining first-party and Marketplace data next year while its Marty assistant answers questions using Walmart's data. The retailer announced the expansion at its Inspire event, where more than 2,000 suppliers and merchants attended and nearly 30 use cases were showcased. Walmart shares fell 1% to $109.28 at 11.36am ET on Thursday morning. The company disclosed no subscriber count, pricing or Data Ventures revenue in its announcement. The tighter workflow loop would let suppliers spot an out-of-stock risk, replenish inventory and launch advertising without switching platforms, potentially improving availability and ad conversion for Walmart.

Meta Platforms Inc. unveiled a palm-sized, dedicated gadget for using Muse, the company's popular new artificial intelligence assistant, pushing deeper into the AI devices market with a surprise announcement. The device runs entirely on the cloud, with nothing processed on the hardware itself, and is designed to let users interact by voice rather than opening an app on a smartphone. Meta is positioning it as a persistent agent that runs 24/7, working behind the scenes on tasks such as organizing calendars, cleaning up emails and ordering goods online without constant prompting. The company has added Walmart and Best Buy as partners as it builds out an ecosystem around the device, and Meta is expected to subsidize the hardware well below Apple's Vision Pro price point. Meta's capital expenditure was 27 billion dollars in 2023 and 140 billion dollars this year, and one analyst said he expects the company to raise its 2027 capex guidance by at least 60 to 70 percent, if not higher, on the coming third-quarter earnings call, though the monetization model remains unclear beyond a planned 1 to 2 percent cut of facilitated transactions.

Walmart, Target and Dollar General are each expanding their retail media operations, combining digital advertising, customer data, e-commerce and physical stores, though each is taking a different route to scale these higher-margin businesses. Walmart's global advertising business grew 38% in the second quarter of fiscal 2027, with Walmart U.S. advertising, including VIZIO, also up 38%, while Walmart Connect rose 43%; the company is widening its addressable market through the acquisition of Vibe, which offers self-service tools for advertisers of different sizes. Target is leaning on Roundel, where gross billings increased nearly 20% in the second quarter of 2026, and reported $279 million in quarterly advertising revenues, up from $217 million a year earlier, with first-half advertising revenues rising to $525 million from $379 million as non-merchandise sales grew 20.1%. Dollar General is broadening DG Media Network across on-site, off-site and in-store channels; the network had reached about $170 million in annual volume at the end of last year, and management expects it to grow meaningfully, with planned subscription and loyalty pilots supporting deeper digital engagement. The common thread is deeper customer engagement, creating more touchpoints through which advertisers can reach shoppers.

Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Wednesday that the company's personal AI agent, Muse, will remain free for most users, unveiling a slate of new retail and productivity partnerships at the company's Connect event. Zuckerberg described the model as novel, betting the agent will make users money by staying free for a huge number of tokens rather than charging upfront, with Meta eventually taking a small fee from transactions Muse completes on users' behalf. Muse launched on Sept. 8, with the basic version free and subscription tiers priced at $20 and $100 a month for heavier use. Meta AI chief Alexander Wang announced that Walmart, Best Buy, Gap, Sephora, Wayfair, Dick's Sporting Goods, Ulta Beauty and Fanatics are integrating with Muse to power new in-app shopping experiences, alongside productivity tools Box, GitHub, Granola and Notion, with Expedia joining for travel planning and Instacart for grocery orders. Wang also said Meta has received more than 1,500 applications from developers since opening its connector platform last week, and JPMorgan analysts said Muse could become the most widely used consumer AI app since OpenAI's ChatGPT.

Walmart announced a collaboration with SCAN Health Plan to launch a co-branded Medicare Advantage plan in Arizona and Texas, subject to regulatory review and approval. The offering may incorporate pharmacy and vision services as well as food and over-the-counter benefits, alongside Walmart's technology capabilities. The partnership also extends Walmart's Everyday Health Signals platform, which delivers personalized nutrition and wellness insights based on users' stated goals and shopping preferences, to participating members as part of broader wellness support. Walmart said health and wellness shoppers spend about three times more than the average Walmart customer, and adding pharmacy delivery can lift spending further, while prescription volumes are growing with reported pharmacy market share gains. The health and wellness category faces near-term sales pressure from pharmacy deflation and regulatory-related pricing changes, but the SCAN collaboration could broaden Walmart's healthcare offering and deepen customer engagement over time.