Walmart’s announcement this week reminds investors about its resilience in tough times
IR teams are just one of the many groups currently caught up in the global game of tariff chicken taking place between the US and countries across the rest of the world, especially China.
This article is guaranteed to be out of date by the time you read it, but at the time of writing, China had just cranked up its import taxes on US goods to 84 percent, following the implementation of US tariffs on Chinese goods of more than 100 percent.
With so much guessing about US President Donald Trump’s next move, the ability of global companies to forecast their performance is – temporarily at least – becoming an impossible task.
In a sign of this, Walmart pulled its guidance for quarterly operating income on Wednesday, given the increased uncertainty around tariffs.
‘The range of outcomes for Q1 operating income growth has widened’ due to factors including ‘the desire to maintain flexibility to invest in price as tariffs are implemented,’ it said in a statement.
The retail giant, however, also took the opportunity to reaffirm Q1 sales guidance and note that financial year 2026 guidance remains unchanged.
Given investors’ strong dislike of both uncertainty and a lack of communication, companies are in a bind. They need to explain their position despite heavily restricted visibility.
Thankfully, this was a topic that came up a lot during our recent think tanks in San Francisco, New York and Toronto.
The advice that came across time and time again was focus on what you can control, leave speculation about what you can’t to others, and remind investors about anything you have put in place that makes you resilient to these kinds of scenarios.
And that’s exactly what Walmart did in its statement. ‘History tells us that when we lean into these periods of uncertainty, Walmart emerges on the other side with greater share and a stronger business,’ said John David Rainey, the company’s CFO. ‘And we don’t expect this current period to be any different.’
How are you communicating through the tariff chaos? Get in touch and let us know at [email protected] or on LinkedIn.
