Walmart, Target earnings put focus on new CEOs Furner, Fiddelke

When Walmart and Target report holiday earnings this quarter, investors may quickly brush off those results.

Instead, they will likely focus more on the two big-box retailers’ futures under new CEOs and the outlook for U.S. consumers in 2026.

Both companies had leadership changes this month: Walmart CEO John Furner and Target CEO Michael Fiddelke, both longtime company insiders, took on their roles on Feb. 1.

The rival retailers have contended with the same economic challenges. U.S. consumers are still spending, but buying selectively, as inflation and tariffs fuel higher prices for groceries and other essentials and cause some shoppers to think twice about discretionary purchases.

Yet while both Walmart and Target have new CEOs, their paths forward look distinctly different.

Walmart’s stock has shot up by about 163% over the past five years and has risen about 24% over the last year, as of Tuesday’s market close. It hit a 52-week high Tuesday. Shares of Target, on the other hand, have tumbled by about 40% over the past five years and dropped 10% over the past year.

The retailers’ stock market performances reflect their sharp divergence in sales results. Walmart is attracting shoppers across incomes and gaining momentum with online sales and higher-margin businesses like advertising. Target is struggling with slower sales and weaker store traffic. Walmart expects its full-year net sales to rise by 4.8% to 5.1%. Target, on the other hand, is on track for a full-year sales decline.

Walmart CEO John Furner inherited a business that’s “fundamentally sound” and “on a great trajectory,” said Neil Saunders, managing director and retail analyst at GlobalData.

“In many ways, his job is to keep the ship steady and see what he can do to add to the speed,” he said.

On the other hand, Target CEO Michael Fiddelke has to “sell the Target of the future” after four years of roughly flat annual sales, Saunders said.

“What I think he’ll want to do is to inject some excitement, to say, ‘Look, I’m really excited about this role. I’m really excited about where Target could go. We are going to change things. We’re going to become a different business. We’re going to get back to what we were before,'” he said.

Here’s a closer look at what we know so far about the CEOs’ plans and what investors will listen for during earnings:

Walmart will report its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings before the bell on Thursday.

The retail giant has had a busy few months: Along with getting a new CEO, Walmart’s market cap surpassed $1 trillion in early February. The company also switched its stock listing from the New York Stock Exchange to the tech-heavy Nasdaq in December and was added to the Nasdaq 100 in…