Walmart has received almost $2.9 billion in federal tariff refunds.
The retail chain shared the figure in Thursday’s fiscal 2027 quarter two financial results, crediting the refund with an increase in gross profit rate and operating income.
Walmart’s gross profit rate was up 96bps, while its operating income rose to $9.5 billion from $7.3 billion—a 28.8% jump year-over-year (YOY).
The company reported $187.94 billion in revenue for the quarter, beating Wall Street’s predicted $186.77 billion, according to consensus estimates cited by CNBC. Walmart also saw its e-commerce sales rise by 23%.
“Our team delivered another good quarter, and we continue to make steady progress on the long-term value drivers of our business,” Walmart president and CEO John Furner said in a statement. “Our multi-year growth in eCommerce is evidence that customers are choosing Walmart because we deliver price, speed, and convenience across a broad assortment. At Walmart, they can have it all.”
Tariff refunds have been rolling out to retailers in the wake of a Supreme Court decision that ruled President Trump’s so-called Liberation Day tariffs illegal.
Target announced yesterday that it has received nearly $1 billion in such refunds.
Walmart’s tariff refund and outlook
Walmart’s quarter three guidance shows operating income is expected to grow 2% to 4% and net sales to rise 3% to 3.75%.
Walmart shared further plans for how it will use the refunds.
“Our operating income outlook reflects the continued prioritization of tariff refunds received in Q2 into customer experience and price investments in the second half,” Walmart executive vice president and CFO John David Rainey stated in the release. “For this reason, I encourage you to consider Q2 and Q3 performance together to assess the underlying growth of the business.”
Fast Company has reached out to Walmart about whether it plans to issue refund disbursements to customers. We will update this post if we hear back.
Despite all of this, Walmart’s (Nasdaq: WMT) shares were down about 6% in premarket trading on Thursday.
U.S. same-store sales fell short of Wall Street’s expectations, growing by 2.6%, compared to a 3.8% consensus estimate cited by Reuters.