Retail giant Walmart (NASDAQ:WMT) aims to silence growing analyst skepticism when it reports second-quarter financial results Thursday before market open.
Here are the earnings estimates, what analysts are saying ahead of the report and key items to watch.
Walmart Q2 Earnings Estimates
Analysts expect Walmart to report second-quarter revenue of $186.8 billion, up from $177.4 billion in last year’s second quarter, according to data from Benzinga Pro.
The company has beaten analyst estimates for revenue in 25 straight quarters.
Analysts expect Walmart to report earnings of 74 cents per share for the second quarter, up from 68 cents per share in last year’s second quarter.
The company has beaten analyst estimates for earnings per share in eight of the past 10 quarters, with an in line report for the most recently reported first quarter.
Walmart Analysts Ratings and Price Targets
Analysts have been mixed on Walmart stock heading into the earnings report.
Bank of America Securities analyst Christopher Nardone is among the bulls on the stock with a Buy rating and $144 price target.
The analyst believes Walmart could return to a beat-and-raise cycle, even with softer spending coming from lower-income consumers. Nardone highlighted strong digital sales growth and improving profit margins as items that could help the quarterly financial report.
Recent price cuts by Walmart could also help with market share gains later this year, Nardone said.
Here are other recent analyst ratings on Walmart and their price targets:
- DA Davidson: Maintained Buy rating, with $150 price target
- Guggenheim: Maintained Buy rating, lowered price target from $137 to $135
- RBC Capital: Maintained Outperform rating, with $137 price target
- Oppenheimer: Downgraded stock from Outperform to Perform, with no price target
- Bernstein: Maintained Outperform rating, lowered price target from $147 to $142
Key Items to Watch
Walmart’s financial results come one day after rival retailer Target Corp (NYSE:TGT) reported quarterly results. Target posted a double beat with sales up 5.3% year-over-year in the quarter. The retailer also raised its full-year earnings per share and sales estimates.
In a preview for Target’s earnings, Benzinga shared that the retailer could be taking market share from Walmart. That will be a trend to watch in Walmart’s report and management commentary.
A Placer.ai report says visits to Target stores were up 4.7% year-over-year in the second quarter, beating a 0.7% year-over-year gain in visits for Walmart.
Here are the year-over-year visit performance by month in the report for the two retailers:
- April: Target +5.3%, Walmart +1.2%
- May: Target +4.6%, Walmart +0.7%
- June: Target +4.4%, Walmart +0.2%
- July: Target +7.3%, Walmart +2.4%
The data shows that Target could have higher visitor growth than Walmart, and based on normal spending habits, this could mean gaining market share. While July won’t factor into second-quarter results, this could help Walmart with guidance for the next quarter.
Unlike Target, Walmart did not raise guidance for any financial metrics after first-quarter results. This could explain why Target stock is significantly outperforming Walmart in 2026.
Target stock is up 59.4% year-to-date in 2026, while Walmart stock is up only 3.6% this year. This is an outperformance of 16.5 times.
The good news is that with lower price targets for Walmart and analysts losing optimism, there could be room for upgrades and upside if the company posts a double beat, shows strong market share gains and traffic, and can manage to raise guidance.
Walmart Stock Price Action
Walmart stock is up 0.26% to $115.50 on Wednesday versus a 52-week trading range of $95.42 to $135.16.
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