Here's what to expect in Walmart's Q1 earnings results - Yahoo Finance

Walmart associate Luis Gutierrez, center, checks out a customer at a Walmart Supercenter in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)

Walmart (WMT), the world’s largest retailer, will report its first quarter earnings results on Thursday before the bell.

Wall Street is looking to see whether the company can maintain its impressive online shopping growth, amid fierce competition with its biggest rival, Amazon. Analysts polled by Bloomberg expect the big-box retailer to deliver earnings per share of $1.02 on revenue of $124.94 billion.

Walmart is expected to show continued e-commerce growth, driven by its online grocery pickup and delivery offering. The retailer expects to offer grocery pickup at 3,100 of its stores and delivery at 1,600 of those locations by year-end.

“We anticipate another an impressive quarter, characterized by continued same-store and e-commerce sales strength as investments (both prior and ongoing) continue to drive operational success,” Bob Summers, an analyst at The Buckingham Research Group, wrote in a note.

“A strong and improving overall value proposition, an appealing in-store experience and expanding e-commerce service offerings remain differentiating factors,” he added.

Buckingham Research maintains a neutral rating on Walmart’s stock with a price target of $109.

With competition intensifying with retail giant Amazon (AMZN), Walmart announced that it will roll out next day delivery without a membership fee for orders of $35 and more.

The offering will begin in Phoenix and Las Vegas before expanding to Southern California and gradually reaching 75% of the U.S. population, the retailer said.

Julia La Roche is a finance reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter.

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