The Japan Times - Walmart outlines big AI ambitions as it reports mixed results

Fresh off achieving a $1 trillion market value earlier this month, Walmart reported solid fourth-quarter results, but projected lower earnings per share in this year's first quarter compared with analyst expectations and slower annual revenue growth.

John Furner, who ascended to CEO on February 1, praised the results as evidence of Walmart's resonance with consumers across income levels.

"The way we're using technology and AI is helping us create great customer solutions, reduce friction, simplify decision making, and pinpoint where our inventory is, all while maintaining the trust we've earned from our customers and members," Furner said.

Walmart has seen significant growth in its advertising and e-commerce businesses, with Chief Financial Officer John David Rainey pointing to notable expansion of the company's Amazon-like "Marketplace" platform for third-party sellers.

"We want to lean a lot more into growth right now," Rainey said.

Walmart on February 3 overtook the $1 trillion valuation marker, a rare occurrence for a brick-and-mortar legacy company that began as a family store in Arkansas in 1962.

Just three other non-tech companies have achieved this valuation: oil giant Saudi Aramco, Warren Buffett's conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway, and pharma company Eli Lilly.

"Investors have sort of put companies like Walmart, Costco and Amazon into one bucket and the rest of the retailers are in a slower-growth bucket," said Arun Sundaram, a senior equity analyst at CFRA Research.

The move came on the heels of Walmart's shift late last year to the Nasdaq from the New York Stocks Exchange.

The company has also overhauled its leadership structure, announcing in January a series of appointments, including naming US chief growth officer Seth Dallaire to an equivalent post for Walmart globally.

The move signals Walmart's intent to deploy technology-oriented growth programs to Walmart's international business.

- Ambitions for 'Sparky' -

Profits for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026 that ended January 31 were $4.2 billion, down 19.4 percent from the year-ago level, with the company citing a drop in the value of some equity investments.

Revenues rose 5.6 percent to $190.7 billion.

Walmart generated 4.6 percent comparable sales growth in its US retail business, reflecting higher sales across grocery, pharmaceuticals and general merchandise.

A company presentation said the figures in the United States were the result of "broad-based growth across merchandise categories as well as share gains across income tiers, led by upper-income households."

Walmart said its "like-for-like" inflation came in at 1.1 percent for the quarter in its US division. The company has described the impact of President Donald Trump's tariffs as less significant than originally feared.

The company has spotlighted success at reducing shipping costs through automation and pointed to the partnerships with OpenAI and Google's Gemini that direct users to Walmart products.

On Thursday, Furner and other executives effused over the capacity of Sparky, an AI assistant on Walmart's smartphone application that has lifted order volumes by 35 percent compared with customers who haven't used the service.

"What Sparky can do is help us understand really clearly what it is that you're trying to accomplish in your life, whether that's a birthday party or a camping trip," Furner said.

"And then we can generate you great, unique solutions" that save shoppers time, Furner said.

Sparky is an example of "agentic commerce," a growing trend in retail where AI assumes more sophisticated tasks, such as executing weekly supermarket orders based on a consumer's history or searching the Internet for the right goods for a holiday meal or a party.

These advances offer both opportunities and risks for retailers, said a report from the CFRA research group last fall.

"For consumers, agentic commerce should save both time and money," CFRA said. "However, for retailers and suppliers, the implications are more nuanced, given the likelihood of reduced direct interaction with customers and more engagement with other AI agents."

Shares of Walmart rose 2.6 percent in mid-morning trading.

S.Ogawa--JT