🦔Walmart beat on revenue and earnings but the stock dropped 9% today. Same-store sales grew 2.6% versus the 3.7% Wall Street expected, the slowest pace in over six years and the first miss in at least five years. Shoppers visited more often but spent less each trip. The company expects $2 billion in extra fuel costs this year and cut prices on thousands of items to keep people coming in. Q3 guidance came in below estimates. My Take Walmart is one of my favorite real-time looks of the American consumer, and the consumer looks worn down. People are visiting more often but buying less because they're stretching their dollars further than they were even a quarter ago. Higher-income families who used to shop at Target and Whole Foods are showing up at Walmart now, and while that helps Walmart's numbers it means the stores above them are losing customers they won't get back easily. The CFO pointed to $4 gas as the line where spending habits change, and I think he's right. Gas at $4, diesel at record levels, grocery prices still elevated after two years of increases, and credit card debt above a trillion dollars. Families are making choices they weren't making six months ago. Retail sales already fell 0.6% in July, and now the biggest retailer in the country is guiding lower for next quarter. I think we're watching the consumer run out of room in real time, and Walmart's numbers today are the most clear picture of it we've gotten. Hedgie🤗