A worker collects shopping carts at a Walmart store.
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Retail giant Walmart reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings Thursday and boosted its dividend.
The stock was rising 3% in premarket trading to $137.35.
Walmart (ticker: WMT) reported earnings per share of $1.53 in its fiscal fourth quarter ended in January. Analysts expected it to earn $1.50 a share, compared with per-share earnings of $1.39 a year earlier. Revenue was $152.9 billion, up 0.5%, which also beat the FactSet consensus of $151.72 billion.
Net income was $3.56 billion, or $1.28 a share, compared with a loss of $2.09 billion, or 74 cents a share, a year earlier.
Comparable-store sales increased 6.3% year over year for both Sam’s Club, the company’s wholesale retail segment, and Walmart, not including fuel sales.
Sam’s Club saw membership increase 9% and sales of $19.2 billion.
The company said it was on track to hit its 2023 financial targets, expecting U.S. comparable-sales growth of above 3%, not including fuel, and per-share earnings growth in the mid-single digits. Analysts expect same-store sales growth of 2.7% and earnings of $6.70 a share.
Additionally, the company said it raised its quarterly dividend by 1 cent to 56 cents a share, and also plans to repurchase $10 billion of its own stock in fiscal 2023.
Walmart stock has fallen more than 8% since the start of the year.
Write to Logan Moore at [email protected]
