Walmart runs more than 10,900 stores across 19 countries and serves roughly 280 million customers every single week. The core idea is simple: charge low prices every day, move enormous volumes of goods, and squeeze costs relentlessly so the savings pass through to shoppers. Money comes in through three main channels. Walmart U.S. stores and walmart.com account for 68% of total net sales. The international business, including Flipkart in India and stores across Mexico, Canada, Africa, Chile, China, and Central America, adds another 19%. Sam's Club, the membership-only warehouse chain with 601 U.S. locations, contributes the remaining 13%. On top of product sales, Walmart earns money from Walmart+ subscriptions, Sam's Club membership fees, digital advertising sold to brands, and fees from third-party sellers who use Walmart's online marketplace and delivery network. The diagram below traces where the money goes.
Five years of financial data tell a consistent story: this is a machine that keeps getting bigger. Revenue climbed from $567.8 billion in fiscal 2022 to $706.4 billion in fiscal 2026, an increase of roughly $139 billion over four years. That is not a spike caused by one lucky event. It is steady, compounding growth of roughly 4 to 6 percent per year. Operating cash flow tells an even more encouraging story. It rose from $24.2 billion in fiscal 2022 to $41.6 billion in fiscal 2026, nearly doubling over the period. That cash pays for new stores, technology upgrades, supply chain automation, and returns to shareholders.
Gross margin has been remarkably stable across this entire period, hovering between 23.5% and 24.4%. That stability matters because it shows Walmart has largely held its pricing discipline even as it expanded eCommerce, absorbed supply chain disruptions, and navigated tariff pressures. The company explicitly states it sometimes absorbs cost increases rather than passing them to customers. Doing that without destroying margins requires enormous scale and relentless cost control.
Free cash flow is the one number that did not follow a straight line upward. It came in at $11.1 billion in fiscal 2022, climbed to $15.1 billion in fiscal 2024, dipped to $12.7 billion in fiscal 2025, then recovered to $14.9 billion in fiscal 2026. The fluctuation is largely explained by capital spending. Walmart spent $26.6 billion on property and equipment in fiscal 2026 alone, up from $20.6 billion in fiscal 2024. Most of that went to supply chain automation, eCommerce infrastructure, and store remodels. The company is deliberately trading some near-term free cash flow for long-term capacity.
The shift toward higher-margin businesses is the strategic story inside the numbers. Advertising, marketplace fees, and memberships all carry better margins than selling a box of cereal. Walmart+ membership showed double-digit growth in fee revenue in both fiscal 2025 and fiscal 2026. Sam's Club membership income grew 8.7% in fiscal 2026 and 13.3% in fiscal 2025. These streams are smaller than product sales today, but they are growing faster and they cost relatively little to expand once the customer base is already shopping in stores and on the app.
Net debt has risen alongside capital investment. It stood at $23.3 billion in fiscal 2022 and reached $34.0 billion by fiscal 2026. That increase reflects deliberate borrowing to fund expansion rather than any deterioration in the underlying business. Operating cash flow of $41.6 billion in fiscal 2026 dwarfs the debt load, so the leverage is not a source of immediate concern based on the numbers available.
Walmart faces several documented risks that are worth understanding clearly. The first is supply chain fragility. Walmart sources products from suppliers around the world, and less than one third of what it sells in the U.S. is imported, with most imports coming from China, Mexico, Vietnam, India, and Canada. Wars, tariffs, natural disasters, or supplier failures could disrupt product flow and raise costs faster than Walmart can absorb or pass through. The second is cybersecurity. Walmart's systems handle billions of transactions and store sensitive payment and health data. A serious breach could halt operations, expose customers, trigger fines, and damage the trust that underpins the entire business model.
The third major risk is the marketplace itself. Products sold by third-party sellers on walmart.com could be counterfeit, stolen, or violate safety laws. Walmart's 10-K filing explicitly acknowledges that it could face legal penalties and lose customer trust if third-party products cause harm. The fourth risk sits inside the pharmacy business. Walmart's pharmacy operations depend on reimbursements from insurance companies and government programs like Medicare and Medicaid. Changes to drug pricing rules or reimbursement rates could reduce pharmacy revenue without much warning. Fifth, and perhaps most structurally important, is the tension between online growth and physical stores. If online shopping accelerates faster than Walmart's stores can adapt, foot traffic could decline, and stores that do not pay for themselves become a cost burden rather than an asset.