New York, February 3, 2026, 17:58 EST — After-hours trading
Walmart shares climbed roughly 3% in after-hours trading Tuesday, nudging the retailer’s market cap past the $1 trillion mark. The stock closed up 2.97% at $127.71, pushing Walmart’s market value to around $1.018 trillion and lifting its 2026 gains close to 15%, according to Investopedia.
Hitting this milestone lands Walmart among a group investors long reserved for Big Tech giants. But it raises the stakes: a retailer valued like a growth stock faces heightened scrutiny in the upcoming quarters. The Wall Street Journal noted that Walmart’s surge owes much to significant investments in e-commerce, automation, and artificial intelligence.
Convenience plays a huge role—faster delivery, wider online options, and a value proposition that holds up even when customers cut back. Walmart’s move from the New York Stock Exchange to Nasdaq in December highlighted its tech-focused angle, Axios reported.
Management shifted as well. John R. Furner stepped in as CEO on Feb. 1, replacing C. Douglas McMillon, who retired from that post at January’s end but remains an executive officer.
Walmart has spent years expanding its online marketplace, accelerating deliveries, and growing higher-margin areas like its roughly $4 billion advertising business and Walmart+ subscription, Reuters reported. Its shares have risen nearly 26% over the past year. “We think of trillion-dollar market caps as being a tech-stock phenomenon, but Walmart is a gritty old-economy company,” investor Charles Sizemore told Reuters. Reuters
It has leveraged AI and automation to close in on Amazon. This effort involves partnerships with OpenAI and Google, plus an in-app chatbot named Sparky, the Financial Times reported.
Not all the headlines focused on expansion. A recent Form 144 filing revealed officer Donna Morris plans to sell 76,181 shares, valued around $9.43 million, via Fidelity Brokerage Services. The filing also noted a sale of 9,384 shares set for Jan. 14.
The milestone came amid a slump in U.S. stocks, with the Nasdaq dropping 1.4% as tech shares tumbled. Lawmakers wrapped up a short-lived government shutdown on Tuesday, although some economic data releases were postponed, reported.
Walmart’s valuation is under scrutiny. The stock currently trades at roughly 42.8 times projected earnings — its forward price-to-earnings ratio. This has prompted firms like Evercore ISI and Goldman Sachs to drop Walmart from their top-pick lists, according to .
Investors are eyeing Feb. 19, when Walmart plans to release its quarterly earnings materials around 6 a.m. Central, with a conference call scheduled for 7 a.m. Central. Details on margins, online profitability, and spending will be key to setting the near-term outlook.
