Retail Earnings Roundup
May 2026
This is our monthly retail earnings roundup for May 2026
This Week in Retail Perspective: The most recent round of earnings reveals a deeply bifurcated retail landscape. Value-oriented players (Costco, Walmart, TJX, Ross, Dollar General recovering) and fast-casual disruptors (CAVA, Shake Shack) lead with strong results, while discretionary specialists (Nike, Lululemon, Target, Best Buy) continue facing headwinds from tariff pressure, housing market stagnation, and shifting consumer priorities. Big Tech (NVIDIA, Apple, Microsoft) remains in a league of its own, with AI-driven demand redefining their trajectories. The restaurant sector shows a clear divide: value-led chains (McDonald's, Domino's, Taco Bell) outperform, while legacy fast-casual concepts and full-service chains struggle with traffic declines and margin compression.
BIG BOX & MASS MERCHANTS
Amazon (AMZN) ● STRONG
Quarter Ended: Mar 31, 2025 Revenue: $155.7B Net Income: $17.1B EPS: $1.59
AWS grew 17% year-over-year to $29.3B and advertising revenue climbed 19% to $13.9B, underscoring Amazon’s diversification beyond e-commerce. North America segment revenue rose 8% while operating income expanded 20% year-over-year. Net income surged 64% year-over-year, meaningfully ahead of analyst estimates, reflecting continued margin expansion across all business lines.
Next earnings: ~Aug 2025 (Q2 2025)
Costco Wholesale (COST) ● STRONG
Quarter Ended: Feb 16, 2025 Revenue: $63.7B Net Income: $1.79B EPS: $4.02
Net sales rose 9.1% to $62.5B with comparable sales up 6.8% and e-commerce growing 20.9%. U.S. comparable sales increased 8.3%, driven by strong traffic and basket size across both food and non-food categories. Membership fee income grew 7.4%, reinforcing the loyalty-driven model that continues to differentiate Costco from traditional mass merchants.
Next earnings: ~Mar 2026 (Q2 FY2026)
Target (TGT) ● WEAK
Quarter Ended: Jan 31, 2026 Revenue: $30.5B Net Income: $1.04B EPS: $2.44 (adj.)
Net sales declined 1.5% and comparable sales fell 2.5%, with comparable store traffic down 3.9%, marking the fourth consecutive quarter of traffic declines. Digital sales grew only 1.9%. Non-merchandise revenue doubled, providing a modest offset. Management pointed to early signs of a turnaround, with February 2026 traffic turning positive for the first time in several quarters.
Next earnings: ~May 2026 (Q1 FY2026)
Walmart (WMT) ● STRONG
Quarter Ended: Jan 31, 2025 Revenue: $180.6B Net Income: $19.4B (FY) EPS: $0.66 (adj.)
Full-year FY2025 net sales rose 5% to $674.5B while full-year net income surged 25.3%, reflecting strong execution across e-commerce, grocery, and Sam’s Club (+4.7%). International segment grew 6.3% and gross margin expanded 53 basis points in Q4. Walmart’s continued market share gains among higher-income households remain a notable strategic development.
Next earnings: ~May 2025 (Q1 FY2026)
HOME IMPROVEMENT
The Home Depot (HD) ● MIXED
Quarter Ended: Feb 1, 2026 Revenue: $38.2B Net Income: $2.6B EPS: $2.72 (adj.)
Comparable sales edged up just 0.4% (U.S. +0.3%) against a still-sluggish housing market. Full-year FY2025 revenue grew 3.2% to $164.7B, aided by the SRS Distribution acquisition. Pro customer sales continued to outpace DIY, and SRS organic sales grew at a low-single-digit rate. The dividend was raised 1.3%, signaling confidence in the long-term cash flow outlook despite near-term demand headwinds.
Next earnings: ~May 2026 (Q1 FY2026)
Lowe’s (LOW) ● SOLID
Quarter Ended: Jan 30, 2026 Revenue: ~$18.6B Net Income: $997M EPS: $1.98 (adj.)
Comparable sales grew 1.3% with Pro, online, and home services all contributing positively. Strong holiday season performance helped the company close FY2025 with total sales exceeding $86B. The acquisitions of Artisan Design Group and Foundation Building Materials weighed on reported EPS but are expected to be accretive longer term. Lowe’s awarded $125M in frontline employee bonuses during the year.
Next earnings: ~May 2026 (Q1 FY2026)
OFF-PRICE & VALUE RETAIL
Dollar General (DG) ● STRONG
Quarter Ended: Jan 31, 2026 Revenue: $10.9B Net Income: $426M EPS: $1.93
Net sales grew 5.9% year-over-year while operating profit more than doubled versus the prior year, reflecting the sharp recovery from FY2024’s store portfolio charges that had depressed earnings by approximately $0.81 per share. Full-year FY2025 net income rose 34% to $1.5B. Consumables led category growth and gross margin expanded 105 basis points, a meaningful inflection from the margin compression that plagued the prior two fiscal years.
Next earnings: ~May 2026 (Q1 FY2026)
Dollar Tree (DLTR) ● TRANSITIONING
Quarter Ended: Feb 1, 2025 Revenue: $5.0B Net Income: $400M (cont.) EPS: $2.11 (adj.)
The Dollar Tree banner posted same-store sales growth of 2.0%, with traffic up 0.7% and ticket up 1.3%, reflecting stable demand from value-oriented shoppers. Family Dollar has been classified as discontinued operations following its divestiture, and the company is now focused exclusively on the Dollar Tree brand. Full-year Dollar Tree segment net sales grew 4.7% to $17.6B, though gross margin contracted 130 basis points amid the transition.
