Walmart (WMT), the world’s largest retailer, reported stronger-than-expected fourth-quarter results on Tuesday. Fourth-quarter adjusted earnings per share came in at $1.41, surpassing analysts’ estimates of $1.33. READ MORE...  

Walmart on Tuesday reported earnings and revenue for the holiday quarter that topped analysts' expectations, as its e-commerce sales surged 43 percent thanks to more shoppers using its online grocery delivery service and spending more per trip.READ MORE...

Walmart says it will end its involvement with the network of commercial and Medicaid pharmacies run by CVS Health Corp.The reason was a disagreement on pricing. "At a time when everyone is working hard to find ways to reduce healthcare costs, Walmart's requested rates would ultimately result in higher costs for our clients and consumers," Derica Rice, president of CVS Caremark, said in a statement. CVS said it has requested Walmart to remain in its networks through April 30 and does not expect the split to have a material impact on its 2019 financial results.

Target saw a surge of shoppers head to its stores and website during the 2018 holiday season, a sign that its investments in store remodels and delivery services are paying off, and an early sign that consumers across the U.S. spent more on gifts this year.READ MORE...

Discount retailer Dollar General (NYSE: DG) has held up better than most stocks in recent weeks, which is supported by a relative strength rating of 92 from Investor’s Business Daily.A score of 92 means the stock has performed better than 92% of stocks. Unfortunately for DG, it looks like a bearish pattern has formed on the stock.

Jeffrey Smith, CEO of activist hedge fund Starboard Value, wants Dollar Tree Inc. to lift its $1 price ceiling on products. Smith wrote to Dollar Tree  CEO Gary Philbin Monday to reveal that his fund had invested in 1.7% stake in the discount retail company, while indicating that there should be more room to raise product prices at Dollar Tree stores.Smith feels that by rigidly restricting prices within $1, Dollar Tree could potentially be sacrificing product quality or size. "Dollar Tree has a great customer base, and we believe its loyalty stems from the fantastic value customers find at Dollar Tree, not merely because everything in the store is the same price," Smith added in the note. Starboard also wants Dollar Tree to consider selling Family Dollar, a chain of stores that it bought in 2015.

Jeffrey Smith, CEO of activist hedge fund Starboard Value, wants Dollar Tree to lift its $1 price ceiling on products. Smith wrote to Dollar Tree  CEO Gary Philbin Monday to reveal that his fund had invested a 1.7% stake in the bargain retail company, while indicating that there should be more room to raise product prices at Dollar Tree stores.Smith feels that by rigidly restricting prices within $1, Dollar Tree could potentially be sacrificing product quality or size. "Dollar Tree has a great customer base, and we believe its loyalty stems from the fantastic value customers find at Dollar Tree, not merely because everything in the store is the same price," Smith added in the note. Starboard also wants Dollar Tree to consider selling Family Dollar, a chain of stores that it bought in 2015.

Walmart plans to continue to run Art.com as a standalone website. Art.com offers made-to-order products, and includes around two million items such as curated images incorporated as wall art/posters, prints, and other art pieces for customers’ home.The site has been generating more than $300 million in annual sales in recent years, according to CNBC citing  an anonymous person familiar with Walmart's acquisition.

Dollar General is ramping up its healthy offerings.Having recently added 125 products including yogurt, nuts, protein bars, veggie snacks, and coconut water, the retailer seems to be catering to an increasingly health conscious consumer population. The retailer's new "better for you" additions come under its Good & Smart house brand, while the stores also offer other ‘health-conscious’ brands like Annie's, Back to Nature, Honest, Nature Valley, and Kashi.

On Monday, Walmart announced that it will 'employ' robots to clean its stores. Expected to deploy 360 “Auto-C” robots at stores by January-end 2019, the retail giant looks like going big on technology to streamline operations."We're excited to work with Brain Corp in supporting our retail operations and providing our associates with a safe and reliable technology," said John Crecelius, Walmart's vice president of central operations.

This map shows the largest private employer in every state in the U.S., and Walmart is tops in an incredible 22 states.In total, the company employs 1.5 million Americans. READ MORE...

Target Corp.'s third quarter (Q3) earnings may have fallen short of analysts’ expectations a little, but its sales growth potentially speaks to the retail giant’s strength in an industry where competition is only getting intense. Target's adjusted earnings-per-share came in at  $1.09 for the quarter, up 20.2% from the year-ago period.Target’s total sales of $17.82 billion in Q3 topped analysts’ expected $17.80 billion. What’s more, the retailer seems to be upping the “Target” for the holiday season, by offering free two-day shipping on all orders from November 1 to December 22. It is the second-largest department store retailer in the U.S., after Walmart.  

While the retail giant beat earnings estimates, revenue fell short of analysts' expectations. Earnings per share  came in at $1.08 (adjusted) versus estimate of $1.01. Revenues increased +1.4 percent to $124.89 billion from $123.18 billion a year ago, and missing expectations of  $125.55 billion.(Analysts' expectations given according to a survey by Refinitiv). Walmart’s U.S. same-store sales grew +3.4%, higher than expected +3.1%. International sales declined -2.6% during the third quarter to $28.8 billion - one of the factors could be its selling of the majority of its Brazilian business to private-equity firm Advent International. The company’s online sales surged +43% during the third quarter.

Walmart is stocking up on technology and brands to encourage customers’ holiday season splurge. Thursday onward, the retail giant will arm store workers with mobile checkout scanners so that shoppers picking big items like TVs, furniture or Christmas trees can pay on spot (i.e., without having to queue up at registers), especially in the busiest sections of the stores/supermarkets. Walmart will also add digital maps on its apps to help customers navigate its store aisles/sections so they can find products more quickly. These technology-driven upgrades intended for a smoother customer experience at its physical stores is critical for Walmart since brick-and-mortar still accounts for the majority of the company's sales, even amidst a booming e-commerce industry. But Walmart is not shying from upping the ante on its digital market either.This year, the firm has already added more than 2,000 brands (including Lord & Taylor and Moosejaw) on its online shoppin

Walmart’s Jet.com will serve Blue Apron meal-kits starting Monday for New York City. Jet.com will feature four Blue Apron meal kits.The e-commerce firm's angle in this deal seems to be expanding its footprints in the grocery space crowded by players like FreshDirect, Amazon.com Inc.’s Prime Now service, Ahold Delhaize’s Peapod. Blue Apron, on the other hand, apparently hopes the collaboration with Jet.com would give new fodder to its meal delivery business which is suffering from cratering sales.

Both the companies entered into an agreement that will see the SunPower install solar power at two distribution centers and 19 Walmart stores in Illinois. This 23MW energy project is set have a combination of rooftop and ground-mount systems, and is expected to start in the first half of 2019. As per the Walmart officials, this is the first major step of the company towards its 2025 plan, by which the company plans to power half of its operations with renewable energy.However, the bigger picture for the company is to cut emissions in its global value chain by one billion metric tons by the year 2030. Although the agreement value has not been disclosed by any of the parties, a multi-million dollar contract of this magnitude could prove to be highly beneficial for SunPower.

Amazon is buying 49% stake in Indian supermarket chain More, according to reports in local media. With over 540 supermarkets across India, More is part of Aditya Birla Group's retail business.No official statement on Amazon's actual investment amount has been made, however. The deal could be seen as  Amazon’s latest ammo against Walmart in the offline retail space.

Drivers sign-up with Delivery Drivers Inc, a firm that manages such workers. In March, Walmart said that it will offer delivery of groceries to households across 100 U.S. cities by the end of 2018.It has since partnered with several small delivery companies like Doordash and Postmates to meet its target.  

But more than the “trillion” number, what’s significant is the e-commerce giants’ remarkable growth story. For years, the company went without generating positive earnings, and instead chose to focus on expanding its online retail (a major factor behind deteriorating margins of brick-and-mortar stores), foraying into diverse product/services and acquiring firms to cement its position in the various industries.Today, Amazon’s offerings encompass retail, grocery, home appliances, business technology, entertainment and healthcare. In Q2 2018, its net income came in at  $2.5 billion – compared to the year-ago period’s $197 million.

The retail company raised its projection for the rest of the year as well. Its digital presence, too, had a strong following among customers: online sales increased 41% last quarter compared to the year-ago period.Last year, the company bought delivery service firm Shipt to boost same-day delivery speeds. Expanding its offerings on clothing, electronics and kids’ toys might also have helped Target garner more customers and sales.