Reference no: EM133122981

Walmart profits grow as consumers continue to spend.

The retailer said total revenue rose to $153 billion in its most recent quarter, up 0.5 percent from a year earlier.

Walmart navigated rising inflation and fickle consumer confidence in its fourth quarter, as sales rose and profit increased, beating analysts' expectations.

The nation's largest retailer said on Thursday that its total revenue rose to $152.9 billion in the three months ending in January, up 0.5 percent from a year earlier, while operating income increased 7.3 percent to $5.9 billion.

The company reported earnings per share of $1.53, which was higher than the $1.50 many analysts expected.

"We had another strong quarter to finish off a strong year," the company's chief executive, Doug McMillon, said in a statement. "We have momentum in our business in all three segments. We're being aggressive with our plans and executing on the strategy."

A day earlier, the Commerce Department reported that retail sales jumped 3.8 percent in January from the prior month, a sign of the economy's resilience in the pandemic. The increase was attributed to greater consumer spending but also, in part, to fast-rising prices.

As the largest grocery chain in the country, Walmart is especially susceptible to the effects of inflation, which has reached its highest level in four decades in the United States. The company, which employs more than 1.6 million in the United States, has also been raising wages to compete for workers amid high turnover in the retail industry during the pandemic.

The company's sales in the quarter across its U.S. business increased 5.7 percent to about $105 billion, while gross profit margins increased slightly. Asked about inflation on a conference call with analysts, Walmart executives said the company was managing inflationary pressures, but did not go into details about whether cost increases were being passed along to customers.

Walmart said that it expected total sales growth of about 4 percent in the coming year and that it was raising its annual dividend by 2 percent to $2.24 per share.

Walmart's stock price was up 4 percent at the close of trading on Thursday.

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