New York, February 18, 2026, 11:18 (EST) — Regular session
- Walmart shares slipped roughly 1% in midday trading, trailing gains across the broader market.
- The options market is pricing in about a 5% move following Thursday’s results.
- Investors are zeroing in on the company’s initial full-year outlook with CEO John Furner at the helm.
Walmart Inc. slid roughly 1.1% Wednesday, settling at $127.43 in New York.
Walmart is making this shift just before releasing its first set of results and yearly forecast since John Furner took over as chief executive on Feb. 1, the filing said. Wall Street often looks to Walmart’s guidance as a proxy for the broader U.S. retail sector.
Walmart reports ahead of Thursday’s open, with options traders pricing in a swing of around 5% by week’s end. Since January, the stock is up about 16%, fueled by money rotating out of tech and into consumer staples, according to Investopedia.
SPY, the biggest S&P 500 ETF, gained roughly 0.8% this day. Amazon.com shares tacked on about 2.7%.
Greg Melich over at Evercore ISI points out, “Historically management tends to be conservative when providing its initial guide for the year,” and after Walmart’s strong rally, expectations are high. The company’s current price-to-earnings multiple sits close to 45. For the fourth quarter, revenue is forecast at $190.43 billion, according to LSEG data cited by Reuters. UBS analyst Michael Lasser, meanwhile, described Walmart U.S.’s new chief, ex-Amazon exec David Guggina, as “not a traditional appointment” as Walmart pushes further into AI-driven digital efforts while facing competition from Amazon, Costco, and Aldi. Reuters
Last month, Walmart announced that its U.S. chief eCommerce officer, Guggina, would step into the role of president and CEO of Walmart U.S., following leadership changes that kicked in Feb. 1.
Walmart executive Daniel J. Bartlett, in a separate filing, outlined plans to sell 1,255 shares through a Rule 10b5-1 trading plan—those deals are arranged ahead of time.
But there’s risk going both directions. Expectations are high—so if the annual outlook is cautious, margins get squeezed, or there’s even a hint that affluent customers are tightening wallets, the stock could take a bigger hit than from a typical earnings miss.
Walmart plans to post fourth-quarter earnings at 6 a.m. CST on Thursday, followed by a 7 a.m. CST call with CEO Furner and CFO John David Rainey running the show. The call’s likely to zero in on Furner’s first full-year guidance, and investors are focused on any word regarding e-commerce momentum, margins, and delivery fundamentals.
