Walmart Retail Location. Walmart introduced its Veterans Welcome Home Commitment and plans on hiring 265,000 veterans.

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Walmart Q4 results beat estimates, full-year guidance comes bellow estimates

The company reported Q4 earnings results and issued its full-year outlook on Thursday.

2/19/26 7:13AM

Walmart whipsawed in early trading after reporting a quarterly earnings beat but issuing full-year guidance that was below consensus forecasts.

For the three-month period ended January 31, however, Walmart reported results above Wall Street’s expectations:

Adjusted earnings per share of $0.74, compared to the $0.73 analysts polled by FactSet were expecting.
Revenue at $190.7 billion, compared to the $190.5 billion analysts were penciling in.

For its current fiscal year, the company expects:

Adjusted EPS to hit between $2.75 and $2.85, less than the $2.97 analysts are expecting.
Sales to increase 3.5% to 4.5% year over year. Analysts had been forecasting about 5% annual revenue growth.

Shares fell by about 3% in premarket trading but turned green and had gained about 2% by 10 a.m. ET.

This marks the company’s first earnings report under CEO John Furner, a company veteran who assumed the role on February 1. Walmart executives said the company issued conservative full-year guidance because it wants to remain cautious amid an uncertain macroeconomic backdrop, noting subdued consumer sentiment and reduced hiring.

“Our goal is to outperform this guidance, but we believe it’s prudent to start the year with a level of conservatism given the backdrop is still somewhat unstable,” CFO John Rainey told analysts.

DA Davidson analyst Michael Baker observed that Walmart has had a habit of sandbagging its guidance, which increases management’s odds of ultimately exceeding that outlook.

“The 2026 and 1Q guidance are both below the Street, but we are not overly concerned about that as we suspect that WMT wants to set a beatable bar,” he wrote. “It’s not surprising that Walmart sets a lower bar for a new CEO.”

Expectations were high leading up to this release. The retail giant, which is up more than 13% since the start of the year, recently became the third non-tech company to hit a $1 trillion valuation.

Investors will be hoping this is not déjà vu all over again: in 2025, the retailer’s soft full-year guidance marked a peak for the S&P 500 and kicked off a momentum stock meltdown.

Walmart reported revenue of $713.2 billion for the full year, just below Amazon’s $716.9 billion, making it the first time the Bentonville-based retailer has trailed its online-native rival on annual sales. Both retail giants have other revenue streams.

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Hardware stocks jump thanks to server demand and record Lenovo revenue

Server stocks are rallying as Dell, Super Micro Computer, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise ride the momentum of Hong Kong-based Lenovo. The PC-maker's stock rose 19% on Friday, hitting an all-time high, on record Q4 earnings.

Powering the positive earnings report was the company's AI-related revenue, which grew 84% in the fourth quarter and now makes up for over a third of total revenue. Investors seem to think the increased demand for servers could have trickle-down effects to other companies.

"The company's results and commentary reinforced the outlook for strong AI-infrastructure demand while indicating resilient broader traditional server and storage spending," wrote Bloomberg Intelligence senior technology analyst Woo Jin Ho. "Lenovo's $21 billion AI-server pipeline and remarks that demand is outpacing supply support Dell's AI-demand momentum and point to robust orders."

AI's insatiable computing demand is reshaping the hardware industry and driving up server demand.

Dell will report first quarter earnings Thursday, May 28.

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Ross Stores surges as Q1 results beat expectations, full-year guidance raised

Ross shares are rising after the company delivered strong Q1 results, with sales topping Wall Street’s projections.

The stock soared 6.3% just after the open.

Key numbers:

Earnings per share of $2.02 vs. $1.47 year over year (estimate: $1.72).
Sales of $6.01 billion, up 21% year over year (estimate: $5.61 billion).
Comparable sales growth of 17% (estimate: 8.58%).

CEO Jim Conroy attributed the results to better traffic in stores. “Customer traffic was the primary driver of the strong sales trend as compelling merchandise assortments, higher customer acquisition and engagement from our ongoing marketing initiatives, and an improved in‑store experience are resonating with shoppers.”

The company also noted that transaction volume grew across all key demographics, including “income levels, ethnicities, and age groups, including younger customers.” Sales were also likely buoyed by standard seasonal tailwinds, including consumer spending from tax refunds.

Backed by the strong quarter, the company lifted its full-year targets. Ross now projects same-store sales growth of 6% to 7%, up from the prior forecast of 3% to 4%, topping Wall Street’s estimate of 4.64%. It boosted its annual EPS guidance to a range of $7.50 to $7.74, versus the prior outlook of $7.02 to $7.36.

Ross Stores has been one of the retail sector’s standout performers this year, rising around 20% year to date as of Thursday’s close.

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Imax surges on report it’s approached entertainment companies for a sale

Imax is on pace for its best trading day since 2021 following a Wall Street Journal report that it’s exploring a sale. Shares are up more than 15% in premarket trading on Friday.

The premium screen company has reportedly approached entertainment companies for a deal, though talks are early and may not come to fruition. Imax has been boosted in recent years by its higher ticket prices — a K-shaped trend in movie theaters — and last year accounted for more than 5% of domestic box office sales.

Theatrical release windows have become a large debate in Hollywood this year, amid the bidding war between Paramount and Netflix for Warner Bros. Discovery. It’s unclear if an entertainment buyer would favor its own films for Imax over a rival’s.

In the first quarter, Imax booked $81.4 million in sales, beating Wall Street expectations but down about 6.5% from last year, when China’s “Ne Zha 2” smashed records.