Some other observations from the report, via Bloomberg:

• Walmart will shutter the Jet.com online business, which it acquired four years ago, an unsurprising move as Walmart has been integrating Jet into its broader web unit over the past year.


• While Walmart’s sales are up, there’s concern that everyday items like food and toilet paper are less profitable than merchandise like clothing. Fulfillment costs also erode the profitability of online orders. Walmart said gross profit margins narrowed due to a shift to lower-margin categories and web sales along with markdowns and other investments to lower prices. But the e-commerce business lost less money than it did in the year-ago quarter.


• The “significant uncertainty” surrounding the length and intensity of the coronavirus’s impact prompted the retailer to withdraw its full-year guidance, given just three months ago. Still, Walmart said its “business fundamentals are strong.” Walmart incurred about $1.1 billion in additional expenses related to the coronavirus -- from worker bonuses to additional cleaning and purchases of protective gear -- according to Jefferies analyst Christopher Mandeville.


• The safety of Walmart’s massive U.S. workforce is also under scrutiny amid reports that some employees have died from Covid-19. Walmart started requiring all store employees wear masks in late April after earlier measures included social-distancing, plexiglass “sneeze guards” and limits on the number of customers allowed in the store at one time. The company’s executives will share more details on their response to the pandemic on a call with analysts this morning.

The CFO said that "The decision to withdraw guidance reflects significant uncertainty around several key external variables and their potential impact on our business and the global economy, including: the duration and intensity of the COVID-19 health crisis globally, the length and impact of stay-at-home orders, the scale and duration of economic stimulus, employment trends and consumer confidence."

Finally, the company said it generated a whopping $5.3BN in free cash flow in the quarter, with operating cash flow doubling to $7BN compared to year ago, and while dividends were unchanged from a year ago, stock buybacks tumbled by 66%