Walmart Mexico profit beats forecasts as sales miss expectations

Walmart’s Mexico and Central America business delivered a reminder that online sales can keep profit moving even when sales fall short. For Walmart workers, that matters because the same mix of fulfillment, inventory discipline and productivity pressure shaping stores in Mexico is the template the company keeps refining across the business.

Walmex posted first-quarter net profit of 12.5 billion pesos, or $697.34 million, up 1.5% from a year earlier and above the 12.06 billion pesos analysts surveyed by LSEG had expected. Sales reached 245.02 billion pesos, missing the 269.96 billion pesos forecast. The company operates in Mexico, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua, so the result also shows how much weight Walmart still places on international operations as part of the broader company health.

The most important number for associates is not just the profit beat, but where it came from. Mexico e-commerce net sales rose 14.4% in the quarter, on-demand services grew nearly 20%, and eCommerce penetration reached 7.7% of total gross merchandise volume. Walmart Connect revenue jumped 33% year over year, while Bait, the telecom business, reached 26.6 million active users, up 48%. At the same time, marketplace gross merchandise volume fell 14.4% because of issues with key sellers, a sign that digital growth still depends on tight execution, not just demand.

That mix helps explain why this kind of earnings story matters on the floor. When online orders grow, so do the demands on store pickup, delivery staging, inventory accuracy and last-mile coordination. When marketplace performance slips, it puts even more pressure on merchant teams and store operations to keep items available and orders moving. Mexico same-store sales rose 3.1% in the quarter, and consolidated revenue grew 1.7%, or 4.1% in constant currency, but the gains were uneven. Central America was weaker than Mexico, and the company said it opened 14 new stores in Mexico and three in Central America during the quarter.

CEO Cristian Barrientos said the results were "not good," but added that the company is in the right direction to recover the speed it needs in sales. Walmex also said in March that it planned to invest around 43 billion pesos in 2026, about 10% more than in 2025, and propose a share buyback of up to 10 billion pesos. It is looking to the 2026 FIFA World Cup and Mexico’s Hot Sale discount period to drive the next quarter.

For Walmart workers, the signal is clear: the company keeps betting that growth will come from digital orders, tighter cost control and faster execution in stores. That playbook can shape staffing, scheduling and job expectations well beyond Mexico.