Walmart Shares Plummet Amid Soaring Fuel Prices

Walmart's (NYSE: WMT) stock plummeted by 9.15% on August 20, its worst single session since 2022, despite posting revenue of $187.9 billion, a growth of 5.94% year over year.

The company beat earnings expectations with adjusted EPS of $0.81 versus $0.7413 expected, but the stock drop was unexpected.

Walmart's comparable sales growth slowed to just 2.6%, down from 4.8% in the previous quarter, which is its weakest sales growth in over six years.

The company attributed this slowdown to higher fuel prices, with regular gas averaging $4.05 per gallon on August 17, 2026, and Walmart flagging more than $2 billion of incremental fuel-related costs this year versus its February plan.