Walmart's stock price exceeded the $1 trillion market value mark on Tuesday. As the largest retailer and grocer in the United States, Walmart has reached this milestone and successfully joined an exclusive market capitalization club dominated by technology companies. In the past year, Walmart's stock price has risen by more than 24%; since 2026, the stock price has increased by more than 11%. This performance far exceeds the 16% annual increase and 2% intra-year increase of the S&P 500 index during the same period.
Wal-Mart's ability to join the ranks of technology giants fully demonstrates its own ambitions. In recent years, Walmart has focused on developing third-party e-commerce platforms and advertising businesses - both of which have higher profit margins than traditional offline store businesses, in order to achieve the goal of profit growth exceeding revenue growth.
The development of its online sales platform is exactly the same development path as its core competitor Amazon.
Wal-Mart's new CEO John Furner has been in office for a few days. Furner officially succeeded Doug McMillon, who has been in charge of the company for a long time, as CEO this Sunday.
During his tenure as head of Walmart's U.S. operations, Furner led several key initiatives. For example, the improvement of curbside pickup services and the upgrade of the quality of its own brands have helped the discount retailer successfully attract high-income consumers at a time when high inflation has squeezed household food budgets.
In its financial report for the third quarter of fiscal year 2026 released in November last year, Walmart disclosed that the company’s revenue increased by 5.8% year-on-year. This growth was due to a 27% jump in e-commerce sales and a strong 53% growth in advertising business. Walmart also predicts that the company’s full-year sales growth in fiscal 2026 will be between 4.8% and 5.1%.
The market expects Walmart to release its fourth-quarter earnings later this month.