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Walmart Opens Year With Strong Sales, Aided by 'Upper-Income' Shoppers

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Walmart, the largest retailer in the United States, on Thursday reported growth in sales and profit in the first quarter, helped by higher-income shoppers. Investors sent the stock to a record close.

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Walmart has performed better than retailers dependent on apparel sales, in part because it sells essential goods like groceries.Credit...CJ Gunther/EPA, via Shutterstock

Walmart said its comparable-store sales in the United States rose 3.8 percent from the quarter a year earlier. Its U.S. e-commerce business jumped 22 percent.

Walmart has performed better than retailers dependent on apparel sales, in part because it also sells essential goods like groceries. Consumers, especially those with lower incomes, are looking for places to save after a stretch of high inflation.

Transactions were up 3.8 percent, while the average ticket price showed that with each visit people were spending about the same as they did this time last year. Walmart's quarterly profit, of $5.1 billion, was triple the result a year earlier.

Walmart's stock rose 7 percent, closing at a record $64, as investors reacted to the results and the company's upgraded forecast for growth this year.

The retailer said consumers from "upper-income households" helped it gain market share, reiterating a trend it has noted since Americans started navigating high inflation a couple of years ago.

In an interview, John David Rainey, Walmart's chief financial officer, pointed to the company's focus on making shopping more convenient through features like curbside pickup and deliveries, as well as diversifying its product offerings, particularly online.

"You think about things like AirPods, MacBook Air — these are items that certainly appeal to a high-income demographic," Mr. Rainey said. "The more that we move into that space and offer a broad assortment like that, I think the more we're going to retain this cohort."

Over the past three years, households earning over $100,000 have provided the biggest gains in Walmart's market share, according to Neil Saunders of GlobalData, an analytics and consulting firm.

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