Walmart Inc.’s WMT grocery business remains central to how the company wins with shoppers. For a retailer built on value, grocery does more than generate sales. It shapes price perception, drives traffic and gives customers a reason to return regularly. This was clear again in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, where grocery helped support Walmart’s broader momentum in the United States.
Walmart U.S. comparable sales increased 4.6% in the quarter, with transactions up 2.6% and average ticket up 2%. Grocery played a major role in that performance. The company stated that grocery strength was led by pantry and fresh food, with strong unit volume growth and share gains as customers continued to respond to low prices and delivery convenience. Grocery e-commerce sales also grew in the double digits, showing that demand remained strong both in stores and online.
Price remains at the center of this story. Walmart leaned into rollbacks and everyday low prices in grocery, using food value to stay relevant in a pressured spending environment. Grocery inflation was still present, but it was relatively modest. Like-for-like grocery inflation was 0.6%, about 70 basis points lower than in the third quarter, primarily due to deflation in eggs and dairy. This gave Walmart room to reinforce its value message in one of the most important parts of the household budget.
The grocery performance also says something about the breadth of Walmart’s appeal. The company continued to gain share across income groups, with a large portion of gains coming from households earning more than $100,000. At the same time, it noted that lower-income shoppers remain stretched.
This makes grocery especially important, as it is helping Walmart stay relevant for budget-conscious shoppers while attracting higher-income customers who are becoming more careful about where they spend.
What the Latest Metrics Say About Walmart
Walmart, which competes with Costco Wholesale Corporation COST and Target Corporation TGT, has seen its shares rally 40% in the past year compared with the industry’s growth of 38.1%. Shares of Costco and Target have gained 4% and 14.8%, respectively, in the aforementioned period.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
From a valuation standpoint, Walmart's forward 12-month price-to-earnings ratio stands at 41.71, higher than the industry’s 38.11. The company is trading at a premium to Target (with a forward 12-month P/E ratio of 14.77) while trading at a discount to Costco (45.82).
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Walmart’s current fiscal-year sales and earnings per share implies year-over-year growth of 4.7% and 9.5%, respectively.
Walmart currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Free Report: Profiting from the 2nd Wave of AI Explosion
The next phase of the AI explosion is poised to create significant wealth for investors, especially those who get in early. It will add literally trillion of dollars to the economy and revolutionize nearly every part of our lives.
Investors who bought shares like Nvidia at the right time have had a shot at huge gains.
But the rocket ride in the "first wave" of AI stocks may soon come to an end. The sharp upward trajectory of these stocks will begin to level off, leaving exponential growth to a new wave of cutting-edge companies.
Zacks' AI Boom 2.0: The Second Wave report reveals 4 under-the-radar companies that may soon be shining stars of AI’s next leap forward.
Access AI Boom 2.0 now, absolutely free >>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
Target Corporation (TGT): Free Stock Analysis Report
Walmart Inc. (WMT): Free Stock Analysis Report
Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST): Free Stock Analysis Report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).