Just when it seemed like Wal-Mart Stores Inc WMT 1.03% was at risk of being left behind in the digital age, the retail giant delivered some impressive Q4 earnings numbers that suggest Wal-Mart isn’t going down without a fight.
Wal-Mart reported $1.30 in EPS, narrowly beating consensus estimates of $1.29. In addition, the company reported 3.0 percent year-over-year revenue growth, up to $133.6 billion.
However, the top- and bottom-line numbers aren’t necessarily what has the market excited. Wal-Mart shares are up 3.2 percent on Tuesday because of some impressive growth in comparable-store sales and online sales. Wal-Mart’s comparable-store sales growth of 1.8 percent was well above analyst expectations of 1.3 percent.
More importantly, in the age of digital retail, Wal-Mart delivered a surprisingly impressive 29 percent rise in e-commerce sales during the critically-important holiday shopping season.
Prior to Q4, Wal-Mart had struggled to keep pace with Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN 0.11% and the rest of the e-commerce space in terms of growth, despite heavy investments in online sales in recent years.
Wal-Mart’s Advantage Potential Takes Center Stage
However, not only does Wal-Mart’s 29 percent online sales growth top the overall e-commerce market growth rate of 15.6 percent in 2016, it also topped Amazon’s 2016 North American sales growth rate of 25.2 percent.
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