The company has focused on improving its food business, and in the wake of Amazon’s Whole Foods acquisition earlier this year has ramped up efforts to let shoppers order groceries online. Its grocery business delivered the strongest quarterly same-store sales growth in more than five years, including sales from online grocery pickup now available in 1,100 stores.Wal-Mart, which gets about half of its U.S. revenue from groceries, said Thursday that sales excluding fuel at stores open more than a year rose 2.7% in the period ended Oct. 27—its 13th straight quarter of gains and the fastest growth since the spring of 2009. Wal-Mart’s profit margin fell in the latest latest period, and some analysts questioned whether Wal-Mart shares could rise further with margins under pressure from investments made to boost both in-store and onlinesales. “Any way you slice it, Wal-Mart seems expensive,” said Morgan Stanley analyst Simeon Gutman in a research note.
On Thursday appeared to embrace a new narrative for Wal-Mart that has it well-equipped to battle Amazon, said Mr. Gutman. Its shares also likely got a boost from investors fleeing consumer staple stocks or other retailers.
by Fadi Bernawi
https://www.wsj.com/articles/wal-mart-sales-growth-freshens-retail-mood-1510837143
Wal-Mart is in need of keeping up with its competitors if it wants to continue having customers because now people prefer to order online. The fact that Wal-Mart is improving its food business implies that it is interested in catching up with its new competitors and offer grocery delivery services.
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