'Re-tale' Walmart sees tariffs as opportunity to gain mkt share

Walmart executives are confident that the world's largest retailer will reach its financial targets this year, despite tariff turbulence that's sparking uncertainty in the world economy.

On Wednesday, Walmart said that it still sees net sales growing 3% to 4% this year. That forecast accounts for tariffs, unlike its previous outlook from February.

The company, which has historically performed well in economic downturns, plans to keep prices low. This means it could take a short-term financial hit to maintain a price advantage against competitors. The company widened the range of its outlook for operating income for this quarter, acknowledging that its actions may weigh on the bottom line, but didn't provide new guidance.


Walmart shares rose as much as 11% in New York trading, the most since 2020, following an announcement by President Donald Trump that the US is pausing the implementation of higher tariffs for 90 days on countries that have refrained from taking retaliatory measures. The advance erased most of the stock's year-to-date decline.

"We're basically one week into this new environment. There's not anything that we see right now that would say that we should give up on the year," John David Rainey, Walmart's chief financial officer, said during a meeting with analysts in Dallas on Wednesday. "We've got a lot of levers, and we'll be pulling those and we'll be managing through this."