Walmart Inc. beat adjusted EPS expectations as it posted an increase in e-commerce growth to 33% during the fiscal first quarter.
The company posted an adjusted EPS of $1.14 for the fiscal first quarter, ended April 27, up 14% from the year-ago period. The mean consensus for normalized EPS was $1.12, according to S&P Capital IQ.
A closely watched metric for the company — Walmart's U.S. e-commerce sales — grew 33% during the quarter, a faster pace than the 23% growth the company saw in its fiscal fourth quarter. Total revenue was $122.70 billion, a year-over-year jump of 4.4% from $117.54 billion.
Walmart also affirmed that the acquisition of a majority stake in Indian e-commerce company Flipkart will negatively impact EPS for the entire fiscal year by about 25 cents to 30 cents.
Walmart reported net income attributable to Walmart of $2.13 billion, a decline of 29.8% from the $3.04 billion in the year-ago period. Analysts expected $3.31 billion, according to the mean consensus estimate for GAAP net income on S&P Capital IQ.
The company reported GAAP EPS of 72 cents, a decline of 28% from the $1.00 reported in the same quarter a year ago. That came in well under analyst expectations of $1.11, according to S&P Capital IQ.
The adjusted EPS figure excludes the impact of an unrealized loss of 47 cents on Walmart's equity investment in JD.com Inc. due to a change in U.S. accounting principles. Beginning this quarter, Walmart is required to included unrealized gains and losses of certain equity within net income, the company said. That came to an unrealized loss of $1.8 billion due to a decline in the JD.com stock price during the quarter. The adjusted figure also accounts for a 5 cent negative impact from U.S. federal tax reform.
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