Walmart Inc. is on a roll headed into the holiday season — topping third-quarter expectations and raising its outlook for the year.
The retailer’s third-quarter net income jumped to $4.6 billion, or 57 cents a share — up from just $453 million, or 6 cents, a year earlier, when results were depressed by losses tied to the company’s investments in JD.com and Symbotic.
Adjusted earnings per share came in at 58 cents for the quarter, 5 cents ahead of the 53 cents analysts forecast, according to Yahoo Finance.
Revenues for the three months ended Oct. 31 rose 5.5 percent to $169.6 billion, easily outstripping the $166.6 billion analysts projected.
Walmart said its e-commerce business grew by 27 percent while the flagship Walmart U.S. business drove comparable sales up 5.3 percent on top of a 4.9 percent gain a year earlier.
Walmart’s been working to sharpen its apparel offering.
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While retail expectations in general are muted headed into the holiday season, the giant Walmart, which has been working to up its game in fashion, is feeling more bullish.
The retailer raised its outlook for the year and is now forecasting a sales increase of 4.8 percent to 5.1 percent, up from the 3.8 percent to 4.8 percent projected in August.
Earnings per share are now pegged at $2.42 to $2.47, up from the $2.35 to $2.43 previously forecast by the company.
Doug McMillon, president and chief executive officer, said in a statement: “We had a strong quarter, continuing our momentum. Our associates are working hard to save people time and money and to transform our business. In the U.S., in-store volumes grew, pickup from store grew faster, and delivery from store grew even faster than that. Our teams are executing and delighting our customers and members with the value and convenience they expect from Walmart.”
