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When
Walmart
and Target report their quarterly earnings this week, investors will gain some insight into how big retail is handling inflation—and stocks across the sector will likely feel the aftershocks.
The two companies are important bellwethers for the retail industry and consumer spending. And in recent months, both Walmart (ticker:
WMT
) and Target (
TGT
) have issued preliminary announcements lowering their guidance for the quarter and the rest of the year. Analysts expect about $151 billion in second-quarter sales for Walmart and $26 billion for Target.
Given the duo’s size and massive customer bases they are also at the center of the market’s biggest story so far this year: inflation.
On the one hand, higher prices are forcing consumers to spend more on essentials, a trend that analysts expect to have improved the retailers’ positioning in the grocery market last quarter. But at the same time, inflation appears to be siphoning consumer demand away from general merchandise, apparel, and other goods with better margins.
“In 2Q22, Target should benefit from the strength of its grocery business, supported by favorable macro trends—continued at-home consumption and high inflation,” Telsey Advisory Group analysts Joseph Feldman, Sarang Vora, and Cristina Fernández wrote in a preview note. “However, the strength in food and essentials should be largely offset by softness in discretionary categories.”
The analysts added that they expect higher supply-chain costs and the shift toward food and essentials to compress retail gross margins by a little more than 6 %, to 24%.
According to FactSet’s consensus estimates, Target is expected to deliver earnings per share of 79 cents, far lower than its $3.51 in earnings per share for the second quarter last year.
Analysts are looking for earnings per share of $1.62 at Walmart, which would lag last year’s second-quarter profits, but only by about 16 cents a share.
When Walmart cut its own projections for operating income in late July, shaving it by 13% to 14% for the second quarter and 11% to 13% for the full year, the company hinted at how price growth was affecting consumer spending.
“Customers are choosing Walmart to save money during this inflationary period, and this is reflected in the company’s continued market share gains in grocery,” the company said. But higher expenditures on food meant spending less on general merchandise, forcing Walmart to mark down items to move through inventory.
Walmart, whose market capitalization of roughly $358 billion makes it one of the 20 largest companies in the world, followed up the lower guidance by cutting about 200 corporate roles in a restructuring effort the firm confirmed with The Wall Street Journal last week.
That being said, there are signs that inflation may have peaked. July’s consumer price index (CPI) remained near a four-decade high, but falling prices for gasoline and fuel lowered the CPI’s year-over-year percentage increase last month.
And although consumer confidence remains weak, the University of Michigan’s preliminary survey results for August, which were released Friday morning, also read optimistically. Its sentiment index improved more than anticipated, rising to 55.1 after ending July at 51.1. (Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal were expecting the midmonth gauge to come in at 52.5.)
Walmart reports earnings Tuesday, while Target’s arrive Wednesday. Their lower profit guidance sent share prices down for their retail peers as well, many of whom also report their results in the coming weeks.
DG
) and
DLTR
) earnings are due on Aug. 24, while
HD
),
BBWI
), and
Lowe’s
(
LOW
) issue their quarterly performance this week.
Most retail stocks have also bounced back since Walmart’s profit warning spooked the market. The day after that updated guidance came out in late July, the
SPDR S&P Retail Exchange-Traded Fund
(XRT) fell 4.2%. Over the last month, however, it is now up more than 18%.
Write to editors@barrons.com
Read More: 2 Retail Giants Are Bellwethers of Inflation. Brace for the Fallout.