Walmart climbs 4% after reporting strong quarterly sales growth and boosting its profit outlook

• Walmart turned in strong quarterly results on Tuesday buoyed by stimulus spending.
• The big-box retailer posted adjusted EPS of $1.69 per share on revenues of $138.31 billion in the fiscal first quarter, topping analyst estimates.
• Comparable sales also jumped 6% for US-based stores and WMT expects a "high single-digits" percentage increase in EPS for full-year 2022.

Walmart stock climbed as much as 4% on Tuesday after the company reported strong quarterly sales growth and boosted its profit outlook in its first-quarter earnings release.

Walmart beat analyst estimates for adjusted earnings per share in the quarter, turning in $1.69 per share vs. analyst expectations for $1.21 per share.

The big-box retailer also beat analysts' revenue estimates, posting $138.31 billion compared to estimates for $131.97 billion.

"This was a strong quarter. Every segment performed well, and we're encouraged by traffic and grocery market share trends," Doug McMillon, President and CEO of Walmart, said in the company's earnings release.

"Our optimism is higher than it was at the beginning of the year. In the U.S., customers clearly want to get out and shop," he added.

Walmart's strong quarter was buoyed by stimulus spending and surging e-commerce sales, according to CEO Doug McMillon.

"We have a strong position as our store environment improves and eCommerce continues to grow. Stimulus in the U.S. had an impact, and the second half has more uncertainty than a typical year. We anticipate continued pent-up demand throughout 2021," McMillon said.

Comparable sales for US-based Walmart stores increased 6%, excluding fuel, in the first quarter compared to an expected 2% gain from analysts, per data compiled by Bloomberg.

International sales did fall 8.3% year-over-year after the sale of the British and Japanese supermarket chains Asda and Seiyu, but same-store sales for Walmart's subsidiary, Sam's Club, jumped 7.2% in the first quarter, excluding fuel and e-commerce sales were a particularly bright spot for Walmart.

The e-commerce segment saw sales soar 37% in the first quarter, which lead the company to increase its earning per share expectations for this year by a "high single-digits" percentage.

Insider recently reported on Walmart's new "project glass" e-commerce strategy that the firm developed in 2020 to help boost e-commerce revenue.

Walmart believes this new e-commerce focused strategy will help it compete with Amazon and others over the long term and so far, the results have been solid.

However, e-commerce sales represented just 3.6% of net sales in US-based stores in the first quarter of this year compared to 3.9% in the first quarter a year ago.

Shares of Walmart traded up 1.87% as of 11:25 a.m. ET on Tuesday.