Walmart Inc. (WMT) announced its third quarter earnings on Tuesday, November 19. The company’s shares rose over 4% after the company delivered a strong earnings report that exceeded both revenue and profit estimates.

The company posted quarterly revenue of $169.59 billion, up 5.5% from $160.80 billion reported during the same quarter last year. This exceeded analysts’ expectations of $167.50 billion.

“We had a strong quarter, continuing our momentum,” said Walmart CEO, Doug McMillon. “In the U.S., in-store volumes grew, pickup from store grew faster, and delivery from store grew even faster than that. Our teams are executing and delighting our customers and members with the value and convenience they expect from Walmart.”

For the quarter, Walmart reported net income of $4.58 billion or $0.57 per adjusted share. This was up from the $453 million or $0.06 per adjusted share reported in the same quarter the previous year.

The Arkansas-based retailer reported eCommerce sales growth of 27% worldwide for the quarter. Walmart’s U.S. comparable sales, excluding fuel, increased 5.3% for the quarter. The company’s U.S. inventory declined to $63.3 billion, a 1.0% decline compared to the same time last year. Walmart’s membership-based warehouse store, Sam’s Club, also reported an increase of 7.0% in comparable sales, excluding fuel. The company revised its full-year outlook and expects net sales to increase between 4.8% to 5.1% and adjusted earnings per share to be between $2.42 to $2.47.

Walmart, Inc. (WMT) shares ended the week at $90.44, up 7% for the week.

Target Misses Earnings Mark

Target Corporation (TGT) released its third quarter earnings report on Wednesday, November 20. The retailer missed analysts’ revenue and earnings estimates, causing shares to fall 21% following the earnings release.

Target reported quarterly revenue of $25.67 billion. This was up 1.1% from revenue of $25.40 billion in the same quarter last year and below analysts’ expectations of $25.90 billion.

“I am proud of our team's efforts to navigate through a volatile operating environment during the third quarter,” said Target CEO, Brian Cornell. “Looking ahead, our team is energized and ready to deliver the unique combination of newness and value that holiday shoppers can only find at Target, and we remain confident in the underlying strength and fundamentals of our business, and our ability to deliver on our longer-term financial goals.”

The company reported net income of $854 million for the quarter or $1.85 per diluted share. This is a decrease from net income of $971 million or $2.10 per share in the same quarter last year.

Target’s total comparable sales increased 0.3% in the quarter, driven by a 2.4% increase in guest traffic. Digital comparable sales increased 10.8% attributed to a 20% growth in same-day services as well as solid growth in Drive-Up services. The company’s gross margin rate decreased to 27.2%, compared to 27.4% during the third quarter of last year. The decrease was attributed to a growth in digital sales and supply chain costs stemming from managing larger inventory levels. In the fourth quarter, Target expects comparable sales to be flat with adjusted earnings per share to be between $1.85 to $2.45.

Target Corporation (TGT) shares ended the week at $125.01, down 18% for the week.

Nvidia Announces Earnings Report

Nvidia (NVDA) announced its third quarter results on Wednesday, November 20. Despite reporting strong revenue and earnings, the AI technology company’s stock decreased 2% following the release.

The company’s revenue for the third quarter totaled $35.08 billion. This was up 94% from revenue of $18.12 billion during the same quarter last year and above analysts’ estimates of $33.16 billion.

“The age of AI is in full steam, propelling a global shift to NVIDIA computing,” said Nvidia CEO, Jensen Huang. “AI is transforming every industry, company and country. Enterprises are adopting agentic AI to revolutionize workflows. Industrial robotics investments are surging with breakthroughs in physical AI. And countries have awakened to the importance of developing their national AI and infrastructure.”

Nvidia reported net income of $19.31 billion or $0.78 per diluted share for the quarter. This was up from net income during the same quarter last year of $9.24 billion or $0.37 per diluted share.

The Santa Clara, California-based company reported an increase in revenue across all segments. Data center division revenue, which includes sales from AI processors, increased 112% increase to $30.8 billion. The company’s gaming revenue grew 15% to $3.3 billion. Nvidia’s automotive and robotics segment increased 72% to $449 million while the professional visualization segment was up 17%, reaching $486 million. Nvidia declared a quarterly dividend of $0.01 per share payable on December 27, 2024, to stockholders of record at the close of business on December 5, 2024. For the fourth quarter of the current fiscal year, the company expects revenue to be between $36.75 billion and $38.25 billion.

Nvidia (NVDA) shares ended the week at $141.95, up 2% for the week.

The Dow started the week of 11/18 at 43,432 and closed at 44,297 on 11/22. The S&P 500 started the week at 5,874 and closed at 5,969. The NASDAQ started the week at 18,718 and closed at 19,004.

U.S. Treasury Yields rose early in the week as investors assessed the latest economic and political indicators. Yields fell later in the week as the latest employment data showed signs of a healthy labor market.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Census Bureau released their monthly report on new residential construction which indicated the U.S. home building market cooled in October. The report revealed housing starts slipped 3.1% to an annualized rate of 1.31 million, below analysts’ expectations of 1.34 million. Building permits, a measure of future construction, were 0.6% lower than the September rate, coming in at an annual rate of 1.42 million.

“Despite the weather impact on building down in the South, the recession in residential housing construction remains deep in the woods with no daylight seen for buyers facing supply shortages as they hunt for new single-family homes,” said chief economist at FWDBONDS, Christopher Rupkey. “The housing shortage and affordability issues will remain unless there is a big jump in new construction.”

The benchmark 10-year Treasury note yield opened the week of November 18 at 4.44% and traded as low as 4.34% on Tuesday. The 30-year Treasury bond opened the week at 4.62% and traded as low as 4.53% on Tuesday.

On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that initial claims for unemployment fell by 6,000 to 213,000 for the week ending November 16, a seven-month low. This was below analysts’ expectations of 220,000. Continuing unemployment claims increased by 36,000 to 1.91 million.

"There is little evidence of large layoffs taking place," said an economist at Citigroup, Gisela Hoxha. “However, in a low hiring environment those individuals that are laid off are finding it harder to get a new job and are remaining on unemployment benefits for longer, which implies upside risk to the unemployment rate."

The 10-year Treasury note yield finished the week of 11/18 at 4.41%, while the 30-year Treasury note yield finished the week at 4.59%.

Freddie Mac released its latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey on Thursday, November 21. The survey showed mortgage rates edged higher after a one-week decline while demand remains weak.

This week, the 30-year fixed rate mortgage averaged 6.84%, up from last week’s average of 6.78%. Last year at this time, the 30-year fixed rate mortgage averaged 7.29%.

The 15-year fixed rate mortgage averaged 6.02% this week, up from last week’s 5.99%. During the same week last year, the 15-year fixed rate mortgage averaged 6.67%.

“Mortgage rates ticked back up this week, continuing to approach 7%,” said Freddie Mac’s Chief Economist, Sam Khater. “Heading into the holidays, purchase demand remains in the doldrums. While for-sale inventory is increasing modestly, the elevated interest rate environment has caused new construction to soften.”

Based on published national averages, the savings rate was 0.43% as of 11/18. The one-year CD averaged 1.84%.

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