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Walmart's Grocery Growth Strong: Is Value Retail Winning Big?
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Key Takeaways
Walmart U.S. comps rose 4.6%, with grocery driving traffic and share gains in Q4.
WMT saw double-digit grocery e-commerce growth, led by pantry and fresh food demand.
Walmart gained share across income groups as low prices appealed to cautious shoppers.
Walmart Inc.’s (WMT - Free Report) 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 - Free Report) and Target Corporation (TGT - Free Report) , 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.
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Walmart's Grocery Growth Strong: Is Value Retail Winning Big?
Key Takeaways
Walmart Inc.’s (WMT - Free Report) 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 - Free Report) and Target Corporation (TGT - Free Report) , 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.