Walmart Inc. (WMT) earnings on August 20, 2026

Before the market opens Q2 2026

More Walmart Inc. earnings

Prior outlook: Optimistic Outcome: Missed

The stock fell 9.2% after earnings, touching a low of -10% during the day. Concerns about cautious consumer spending drove the drop.

WMT price around the earnings

103.85

Change: -9.1%

2026-08-20, 20:00 UTC

Start of the measured window End of the measured window
102.93 107.29 111.64 116.00 114.30
Price series around the eventClosing price per minute from before the event to the end of the measured window.
August 20, 2026
  • Price: green if it ends above the starting price; red if it ends below
  • Start of the measured window
  • End of the measured window
  • Market open
  • Starting price
Price series around the event

Prior thesis

Prior outlook: Optimistic Outcome: Missed

Thesis published
Results released

Strong analyst confidence, optimistic scenario

Analysts are very confident about Walmart, with many buy ratings and a price target about 20% above the current price, and they expect earnings and sales to grow. However, past earnings have been a bit inconsistent, with a recent miss, so the outlook is positive but not without some caution.

Context analyzed before publication

Summary
Strong analyst confidence, optimistic scenario
Playbook
The setup is positive, driven mainly by strong analyst support, while market sentiment is also improving but less strongly. The stock has shown modest recent gains but has slightly lagged the broader market.
Trend
Analyst confidence rebounded sharply after a dip

Analysts

Drivers

  • Analysts Positive

    Analysts are very positive, with 40 buy ratings and a price target citing about 20% above the current price. They also expect earnings per share to grow by $0.19 and revenue to grow by 7%.

Evidence

Analyst consensus
Buy
Consensus average (1-5)
1.58
Analysts covering the stock
40
Average price target
137.93
Lowest price target
81
Highest price target
155
Upside to price target
20.7%
Quarterly earnings growth
18.8%
Revenue growth
7.3%
Forward EPS
3.28
Trailing EPS
2.82
Analyst moves in the last 60 days
6
  • Strong buy: 9
  • Buy: 27
  • Hold: 6
  • Sell: 1
  • Strong sell: 0
Strong buy
9
Buy
27
Hold
6
Sell
1
Strong sell
0
  • August 17, 2026 · DA Davidson: Maintains rating (Buy → Buy)
  • August 17, 2026 · Guggenheim: Maintains rating (Buy → Buy)
  • August 12, 2026 · RBC Capital: Reiterates rating (Outperform → Outperform)
  • August 4, 2026 · Oppenheimer: Downgrades rating (Outperform → Perform)
  • July 31, 2026 · Bernstein: Maintains rating (Outperform → Outperform)
  • July 22, 2026 · RBC Capital: Reiterates rating (Outperform → Outperform)

News and sentiment

Drivers

  • News & sentiment Neutral

    Overall market mood is improving, but there's no specific news about Walmart. Social media sentiment is moderately positive, with about 56% of posts being optimistic.

Evidence

Sentiment
Sentiment
Constructive
Mention volume
High
Normalized volume
99%
News
Sources (8)

Technicals

Drivers

  • Technical Neutral

    The stock has shown modest gains over the past two weeks (1.8%) and month (2%), but it has slightly underperformed the tech-heavy QQQ index by about 0.9%.

Evidence

Price when the context was analyzed
114.4
Average true range (ATR)
2%
Distance to 52-week high
-14.8%
14-day change (14d)
+1.8%
30-day change (30d)
+2.0%
30-day relative strength
-0.9%
QQQ change (30d)
+2.9%
Nearest support
113.53
Distance to nearest support
0.8%
Nearest resistance
114.42
Distance to nearest resistance
0%
Volume accumulation ratio (14d / 46d)
0.94
  • Mid: 113.53 (0.8% away, 0.39 ATR, 12 touches)
  • Major: 112.77 (1.4% away, 0.73 ATR, 30 touches)
  • Major: 112.21 (1.9% away, 0.97 ATR, 32 touches)
  • Mid: 114.42 (0% away, 0.01 ATR, 26 touches)
  • Mid: 115.14 (0.6% away, 0.33 ATR, 11 touches)
  • Minor: 115.5 (1% away, 0.49 ATR, 5 touches)

Trends

Evidence

Average earnings surprise
-0.7%
  • May 21, 2026: actual EPS 0.66 vs estimate 0.66 (surprise +0.2%)
  • February 19, 2026: actual EPS 0.74 vs estimate 0.73 (surprise +1.8%)
  • November 20, 2025: actual EPS 0.62 vs estimate 0.6 (surprise +3.1%)
  • August 21, 2025: actual EPS 0.68 vs estimate 0.74 (surprise -8.0%)

Expected move

Drivers

  • Past earnings Negative

    Walmart has beaten earnings expectations 75% of the time, but the average surprise is slightly negative at -0.7%, and the most recent quarter missed by 8%.

Implied move
+6.2%
Source
Options chain

Reactions over its last 20 earnings

Median move
4.2%
75th percentile move
6.6%
90th percentile move
7.4%
Up / down moves
10 / 10
Average up move
+4.4%
Average down move
-4.4%

Monitoring and close

What Walmart Inc. reported

Status
Finished
Actual EPS0.81
EPS estimate0.74
EPS surprise+9.5%
Revenue$187,937 million
Revenue estimate$186,794 million
Revenue surprise+0.6%

Walmart reported weak U.S. sales and pessimistic guidance, using tariff refunds to cut prices. Shares fell 9.7%, dragging the market down.

Sources (50)

Pre-market second reading after the results

Verdict
Beat expectations

Heading into the open, results beat expectations on both earnings and revenue, and the price is indicating -6.0% pre-market, a move above the stock's usual reaction (about 4%). The figures overturn the prior optimistic scenario. In the 722 similar cases in our market history, the close held that direction 87% of the time.

How the stock reacted

Outcome
Missed
Consolidated
-9.2%
Max favorable move (MFE)
1.5%
Max adverse move (MAE)
10%