Walmart beats Q4 expectations during holiday shopping period

Walmart on Tuesday reported strong sales for the holiday season as budget-conscious consumers looking for better deals flocked to its stores. The report was a good showing for the company, considering consumers had overall cut back on their spending during the traditional November-December shopping period. Though sales rebounded at stores and restaurants last month, showing shoppers are still spending despite higher prices and several interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. The nation’s largest retailer also delivered full-year sales of $611.3 billion, up 6.7% compared to the prior year. But it said it expects sales to increase between 2.5 to 3% in the next fiscal year. Shares fell more 4% in premarket trading.