Walmart experienced the slowest growth in U.S. comparable sales in six years during its most recent quarter and it offered a cautious outlook for the year, sending company shares down 6% before the opening bell Thursday.
Comparable sales in U.S. stores, which measure sales at stores open at least a year along with online sales tied to those locations, rose 2.6% in the second quarter. They rose 4.1% in the previous quarter.
Excluding the wellness category that includes Walmart’s pharmacies, comparable sales increased 3.4% in the second quarter. Those sales were hit by federal legislation that requires pharmacies to dispense some high-cost Medicare drugs at capped prices, the retailer said. That was still below analysts’ projections of a 3.8% increase, according to FactSet.
Walmart’s U.S. e-commerce business, which has become an engine of growth for the retailer, rose 24%, trailing the first-quarter pace of 26%.
Walmart is among the first batch of major retailers to report second-quarter results, which could offer industry analysts and economists another read on whether ongoing price pressures from the conflict in Iran have impacted consumer behavior.
