WMT 10-K Analysis: The $1.6B Margin Mirage Hiding a Platform Transformation
Walmart reported its first operating margin decline in three years — minus 13 basis points to 4.18%. But two line items buried in the MD&A, totaling $1.6 billion, explain the entire drop. Strip them out and margins actually improved. Meanwhile, US eCommerce reached $99.6 billion (20.6% of net sales), membership fees hit $4.4 billion, and Walmart Connect advertising grew 33%. The catch: ROI already declined from 15.5% to 15.1%, and $18.7 billion in construction-in-progress hasn't started earning returns yet.