Walmart (NYSE:WMT) said Tuesday its second-quarter earnings got a boost as shoppers rushed in to spend their stimulus checks, while its online business continued to surge during the pandemic.
Walmart’s e-commerce sales in the U.S. shot up by 97% as customers had packages shipped their homes and used curbside pickup. The retailer’s U.S. same-store sales grew by 9.3% in the second quarter, fueled by purchases of food and general merchandise.
Shares in the conglomerate founded by Sam Walton in 1962 in Arkansas were up less than 1% in pre-market trading after jumping by more than 6% at one point to reach an all-time high. They opened Tuesday lower by 87 cents to $134.73.
In the second quarter, Walmart reported net income rose to $6.48 billion, or $2.27 per share, from $3.61 billion, or $1.26 per share, a year earlier.
Excluding items, the company earned $1.56 per share, higher than the $1.25 expected by analysts. Among the excluded items are 10 cents a share in restructuring costs. In July, the company cut corporate positions across its business, but did not specify the number of jobs that were eliminated.
Total revenues rose 5.6% to $137.74 billion from $130.38 billion a year earlier, outpacing Wall Street’s expectations of $135.48 billion.
Walmart customers shopped less frequently, but bought more when they did. The average ticket rose by 27% during the second quarter, as transactions fell by 14%.
The retailer said it spent about $1.5 billion on costs related to COVID-19. During the pandemic, Walmart has hired more than 400,000 hourly workers to fulfill online orders, clean stores and stock shelves.
