(Jay L Clendenin/Getty Images)

Walmart soars after maintaining full-year guidance into the teeth of tariffs

The retailer also pulled its Q1 operating income guidance.

4/9/25 9:02AM

Walmart soared Wednesday even after the company pulled its first-quarter operating income guidance, citing a mix of shifting consumer behavior, rising costs, and fresh tariff pressure.

To cushion the blow, management reaffirmed its outlook for Q1 revenues, as well as full-year sales and operating income.

Keeping the same full-year guidance that was deemed incredibly disappointing and kicked off a momentum stock rout less than two months ago becomes more of a positive in light of how much fear has been priced in to the stock market since.

Tariffs, which took effect Wednesday at midnight, include a 104% duty on some Chinese imports and a 46% tariff on goods from Vietnam. Walmart sources about 20% of its products from China and has been pushing suppliers there to lower prices.

“History tells us that when we lean into these periods of uncertainty, Walmart emerges on the other side with greater share and a stronger business,” CFO John David Rainey said in a statement. Executives have said that inflation is making shoppers more selective, leading many to prioritize necessities like groceries over higher-margin items like clothing and home goods.

Back in February, Walmart topped Q4 estimates, but the stock saw its biggest drop in over a year after the retailer warned of slower growth ahead. Walmart’s shares are still up 37% over the past year.

Luke Kawa3h

Corning spikes after Nvidia invests $500 million in the fiber-optics company

Corning is spiking after Nvidia dropped $500 million for the right to buy up to 18 million of its shares.

The deal comes as part of a multiyear partnership that will see Corning “increase its U.S.-based optical connectivity manufacturing capacity by 10x and expand its U.S. fiber production capacity by more than 50% to meet the accelerating demand driven by AI factory buildouts,” per the press release.

The deal is structured around Corning issuing Nvidia two types of warrants:

“Pre-funded” warrants for 3 million Corning shares (which account for the bulk of the $500 million to the fiber-optics company).
“Traditional” warrants that enable Nvidia to buy 15 million shares at $180, thereby benefiting from Corning’s share price trading above that level within three years’ time (unless this partnership is terminated or Corning makes a “fundamental transaction” before that). If and when Nvidia exercises those warrants in full, CEO Jensen Huang will be cutting a much heftier check to Corning.

So while on the surface this deal may not look as big as Nvidia’s recent $2 billion investments in Marvell Technology, Coherent, and Lumentum, once all the dust settles, it could turn out to be considerably more!

Luke Kawa

AMD’s spike reveals just how central CPUs are to the AI boom

“The world has changed, amid sentiment that the CPU growth trajectory has changed,” wrote Morgan Stanley analyst Joseph Moore.

AMD Ryzen 5 2600 Processor close up in the black motherboard CPU socket. Advanced Micro Devices is an American semiconductor company

Helena Cheng4h

AMC gains as strong Q1 results give breathing room for balance sheet improvements

AMC shares are rising in early Wednesday trading after the theater chain reported Q1 earnings results with revenue exceeding estimates after the bell Tuesday.

Key numbers:

Revenue of $1.05 billion (compared to analyst estimates of $972.6 million).
Adjusted EBITDA of $38.3 million (estimate: $7.7 million).

Attendance reached 30.7 million in the US and 16.9 million internationally, with improving demand thanks to recently released movies like “Project Hail Mary,” “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” and “Michael.”

A prolonged string of positive operating results like these will be needed to improve AMC’s balance sheet over time. AMC is still carrying around $4 billion in debt, which management is aiming to refinance and pay down over time.

“Refinancing has bought time to delever amid the stop-and-go box-office rebound as film supply is set to improve,” Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Kevin Near and Geetha Ranganathan wrote in the wake of this release. “AMC expects to close more underperforming theaters this year and hinted that positive free cash flow may hinge on a strong 2027 movie slate.”

Analysts at Benchmark upgraded the stock to “buy” from “hold” following these Q1 results.

Rani Molla

Uber Q1 earnings, Q2 guidance come in above Wall Street estimates

Uber reported earnings before the bell Wednesday.