Walmart Inc.'s return on equity: 3 definitions, 3 answers
Depending on which definition is used, Walmart Inc.'s return on equity for FY2026 is anywhere from 20.68% to 22.97%, every one of them arithmetically correct and all of them out of the same filing.
Computed from Walmart Inc.'s 10-K for fiscal 2026, the year ended 2026-01-31, filed 2026-03-13, 41 days after the books closed. Accession 0000104169-26-000055 Reported in USD.
The same filing, read 3 ways
| Definition | Formula, in filed line items | Measured over | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Net income over closing equityours | netIncome / totalStockholdersEquity | One filed fiscal year | 21.98% |
| Net income over average equity | netIncome / ((totalStockholdersEquity this year + totalStockholdersEquity last year) / 2) | Two filed balance sheets | 22.97% |
| Net income over total equity including minority interests | netIncome / totalEquity | One filed fiscal year | 20.68% |
Highest over lowest, a factor of 1.11.
- Net income over closing equity
- Net income 21.89 bn USD, Total stockholders' equity 99.62 bn USD, giving 21.98%. This is the one the product prints.
- Net income over average equity
- Net income 21.89 bn USD, Total stockholders' equity 99.62 bn USD, Total stockholders' equity (prior year) 91.01 bn USD, giving 22.97%. Reading it instead of the one the product prints moves the answer by +0.99 pts.
- Net income over total equity including minority interests
- Net income 21.89 bn USD, Total equity 105.89 bn USD, giving 20.68%. Reading it instead of the one the product prints moves the answer by -1.30 pts.
Our own figure for WMT: 21.98%. That is the net income over closing equity line above.
The definitions disagree by 2.29 pts on this filer, against 9.26 pts between the median and the top quartile of the 4574-company cohort. So the choice moves the answer less than a quarter of the market does.
Is that a lot
Walmart Inc.'s 21.98% (FY2026, on the definition this product prints) is +18.43 pts against the 3.55% median of the 4574 filers holding a return on equity on 2026-10-21. Every mark, and the distance from it:
| Mark | Every filer (4574) | Distance | Consumer Defensive (198) | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| p5 | -215.01% | +236.99 pts | -150.21% | +172.19 pts |
| p10 | -114.44% | +136.42 pts | -88.54% | +110.52 pts |
| p25 | -29.22% | +51.20 pts | -20.03% | +42.01 pts |
| p50 | 3.55% | +18.43 pts | 6.26% | +15.72 pts |
| p75 | 12.82% | +9.16 pts | 16.44% | +5.54 pts |
| p90 | 25.45% | -3.47 pts | 24.03% | -2.05 pts |
| p95 | 39.61% | -17.63 pts | 37.52% | -15.54 pts |
A distance is not a verdict. What the marks mean, and what this metric hides
Nothing here is quoted from another publisher, and none of these is called wrong.
What this page leaves out
Evaluated over 10 filed fiscal years, FY2017 to FY2026. Accounts filed before this company began tagging its statements in XBRL are not machine-readable and are outside this page. No share price is involved in any figure here, so nothing on this page is limited by the depth of our price archive.
Filings get mis-tagged and restated, so check a figure against the submission it names. Coverage for a company you own.