Walmart (NYSE:WMT) reported third-quarter earnings on Tuesday that topped Wall Street’s expectations as customers continued to shop online and sent U.S. e-commerce sales soaring by 79%.
The Arkansas-based discounter said customers are embracing the new ways of shopping they adopted during the global health crisis, and as the holiday shopping season begins. Instead of browsing store aisles, more of them are shipping purchases to their homes, getting groceries dropped off at their doors or picking up online purchases by the curbside.
Walmart did not provide an outlook, but the company’s CEO Doug McMillon said the popularity of the online shopping services will not fade away.
"We think these new customer behaviors will largely persist and we’re well positioned to serve customers with the value and experience they’re looking for,"
In the third quarter, Walmart reported net income to $5.14 billion, or $1.80 per share, from $3.29 billion, or $1.15 a share, a year earlier. Excluding items, Walmart earned $1.34 per share. Analysts were expecting Walmart would earn $1.18 per share.
Total revenue grew by 5.2% to $134.7 billion from $128.0 billion a year earlier, exceeding Wall Street’s expectations of $132.2 billion.
Walmart’s same-store sales in the U.S. grew by 6.4%, higher than the increase of 3.9% expected by StreetAccount survey.
Walmart subsidiary, Sam’s Club, had a strong quarter, too. The membership warehouse club’s same-store sales increased about 11%, excluding fuel, and its e-commerce sales jumped 41%.
WMT shares dropped $3.13, or 2.1%, to $149.56.
