Walmart Q1 preview: Can earnings beat a tough comparable quarter?
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Walmart (NYSE:WMT) is scheduled to announce Q1 earnings results on Tuesday, May 17th, before market open.
The consensus EPS Estimate is $1.48 (-12.4% Y/Y) and the consensus Revenue Estimate is $138.09B (-0.2% Y/Y).
Walmart (WMT) topped Q4 revenue and EPS expectations, with comp sales rising 5.6% in the U.S. for the crucial holiday quarter against a tough comparable from a year ago when the comp was +8.6%.

Looking ahead, the retail giant said it expects sales to increase about 3% in constant currency in FY23. Walmart (WMT) also plans for share repurchases of at least $10B in FY23, which is a higher mark than anticipated.
The latest quarter may be dented by the impact of inflation on consumer discretionary spending after the consumer price report showed inflation at 7.9% for February. "With the current spike in oil prices not reflected in the February CPI, further/renewed acceleration next month seems all but guaranteed," noted Bankrate.com chief financial analyst Greg McBride on the print.
Comp sales during the quarter may also be hit by a challenging comparable period, when Walmart lapped generous stimulus payments in early 2021.
Same store comps were +5.6% in Q4, slightly higher than previous guidance. Interestingly, Walmart did not provide guidance for Q1 comps, and investors will be keen on seeing how well this key metric fares.
Another metric to look out for will be the Walmart Connect advertising business, possibly a major revenue driver in coming years.
SA contributor Bradley Guichard highlighted several other areas of interest for investors ahead of the Q1 results. Other contributors have been cautious about Walmart's prospects, with David Waldron noting that the company needs to improve its competitive answers to Amazon Prime and Costco Wholesale.
A comparison of Walmart's YTD price return versus Target (TGT), Costco (COST) and Amazon (AMZN):



Over the last 2 years, WMT has beaten EPS estimates 88% of the time and has beaten revenue estimates 100% of the time.
Over the last 3 months, EPS estimates have seen 1 upward revision and 20 downward. Revenue estimates have seen 3 upward revisions and 9 downward.