Walmart Stocks Slide on Slowing Sales Growth Amid E-Commerce Push

Walmart shares are trading lower on Thursday as investors weigh the company's robust e-commerce expansion against concerns about margin pressures in its core retail operations.

The retailer posted strong second-quarter earnings last week, with total revenue of $187.94 billion and adjusted EPS of 81 cents beating Wall Street estimates.

However, the company's U.S. comparable-store sales growth of just 2.6% marked the slowest pace in nearly six years, sparking concerns about inflation headwinds, weaker consumer discretionary spending, and market share pressure from rival Amazon.

In an effort to maintain price leadership, Walmart is implementing permanent rollbacks in some categories, which are intended to become permanent if they deliver share gains. The company's CFO noted that profit growth is increasingly driven by platform businesses, such as e-commerce and other high-margin platforms, rather than traditional retail sales.