What's going on?

The world�s largest company by revenue, Walmart, reported quarterly results on Tuesday that steamrollered investors� expectations.

What does this mean?

Walmart extended its record of growing sales in existing US stores to 15 quarters in a row by selling 4.2% more than a year ago, higher than investors forecast. The company did a roaring trade in playthings over the holidays, filling some of the Toys R Us-shaped hole � and Walmart also saw bumper sales of food, responsible for half of its total revenue.


Walmart�s burgeoning ecommerce business continued its high growth last quarter � and for the first time, its $14 billion majority stake in Indian etailer Flipkart showed up in earnings. Both these parts of Walmart�s business have lower profit margins than its bricks �n� mortar operations; but this didn�t stop Walmart�s overall quarterly profit from beating forecasts too.

Why should I care?

For markets: Who needs official retail sales data anyway?

Official data released last week showed an unexpected December drop in US retail sales. Walmart could�ve been a major victim � but Tuesday�s good news meant investors bought up its stock, which rose 4%. Investors will keep their eyes peeled for any upward revisions to the December data � but with Walmart and Amazon hitting retail records, there may be several have-nots out there. One early casualty is footwear retailer Payless ShoeSource, which filed for bankruptcy protection on Tuesday just two years after its previous bankruptcy.

Zooming out: Walmart brings the fight to Amazon.

Walmart plans to spend $11 billion on �capital expenditure� this year, up from around $10 billion the last. Big-ticket purchases will be aimed at growing Walmart�s ecommerce business � and hiring thousands of coding whizzes will probably help it better compete with Amazon. Walmart�s US ecommerce growth last year was 10% higher than Amazon�s, but maybe Walmart�s eyes are on the wrong prize: Amazon doesn�t make much profit from retail, instead betting big on cloud computing. Not that that isn�t a pretty expensive game itself. Just ask Google�