Tariff refunds continue to bolster the balance sheets of big retailers while consumers remain constrained by higher fuel prices and other macroeconomic factors.
Walmart has received about $2.9 billion in tariff refunds, the company’s CFO John David Rainey told investors in the company’s second-quarter earnings call Thursday morning.
“We’ve taken a disciplined approach to investing these funds back into customer experience and price leadership, prioritizing investment in grocery and general-merchandise categories,” Rainey said.
Walmart CEO John Furner said the company is deploying that into lowering prices, similar to what Target executives said when disclosing their almost $1 billion in refunds Wednesday. The companies did not mention any direct payments to customers.
“Importantly, our underlying profit growth was where we thought it would be, excluding this benefit,” Furner added. Rainey said operating income growth without the refund was at the top end of its expectation of 7-10% year-over-year growth.
