Shares of Walmart Inc Inc (NYSE:TJX) are down 4.3% to trade at $98.15, after the retailer missed earnings estimates for the first time since 2022, reporting profits of 68 cents per share. Revenue, however, exceeded expectations at $177.4 billion. Tariff pressures, price concerns, and one-time expenses spelled trouble for the Arkansas-based company throughout its second quarter, but strong U.S. and e-commerce sales led the brand to raise its full-year sales and profit outlook.
Today's drop has WMT on track to snap a three-day win streak. The shares are also falling back below the $100 level, which provided resistance for most of this year. Year-to-date, the equity is still up 8.6%.
Most analysts are on board with Walmart's optimistic outlook, with 36 of the 37 firms in coverage rating WMT a "buy" or better. Options traders have largely echoed this sentiment in the long term, as the stock's 50-day call/put volume ratio of 1.98 at the International Securities (ISE), Cboe Options (CBOE) and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) ranks higher than 87% of readings from the past year.
Bearish activity has picked up in the options pits today, however. So far, 114,000 puts have been exchanged, compared to 100,000 -- volume that's eight times the intraday average. The most sought-after contracts are the August 97-, 98-, and 92-strike puts, with positions opening at all three levels.
