In 2015, when Walmart CEO Doug McMillon was under pressure to help the discount retailer keep up with Amazon amid a period of stagnation, he made the bold decision to invest billions of dollars in raises to motivate store workers to offer better service and overhaul Walmart’s in-store tech. Wall Street’s response? A selloff that led to what was then the biggest stock drop in Walmart’s history, a 10% shellacking.
Fast-forward to this week, when Walmart’s stock hit an all-time high on the strength of a quarterly sales report and forecast that blew past Wall Street expectations. In this consumer environment, in which inflation-battered shoppers are being more careful, its U.S. comparable sales grew 5.3% last quarter. That led Walmart to raise its forecast for the year. What’s more, its e-commerce grew 27%, and in-store sales boomed, suggesting Walmart has been taking market share from the likes of Target and Amazon. Not bad for a retailer at risk of obsolescence a decade ago.
