Walmart posts strong holiday growth, but earnings outlook falls short of estimates

Group 1 - Walmart exceeded expectations for both sales and revenue in the holiday quarter, reporting earnings per share of 74 cents against the expected 73 cents and revenue of $190.66 billion compared to the anticipated $190.43 billion [1] - E-commerce sales in the US rose by 27% year-over-year, marking the 15th consecutive quarter of double-digit growth, with speedy deliveries attracting more shoppers [1] - Market share gains are occurring across all income cohorts, particularly in the upper-income segment, with expectations of easing pricing pressure for consumers [1][2] Group 2 - Walmart's outlook for the year fell short of expectations, projecting net sales growth of 3.5% to 4.5% and adjusted earnings per share ranging from 2.75% to 2.85%, below Wall Street's expectation of $2.96 per share [3][4] - For the first time, Amazon has surpassed Walmart in annual revenue, although the comparison is complicated by Amazon's significant revenue from cloud services [4]