Walmart vs TJX vs Lowe's Q1 2027: Retail Earnings Breakdown

Walmart (WMT), TJX Companies (TJX), and Lowe's (LOW) each topped Q1 2027 consensus estimates, but the similarity ends there. Walmart posted broad-based platform gains anchored by its ninth consecutive quarter of 20%+ U.S. eCommerce growth. TJX delivered a 29% year-over-year EPS surge on margin expansion across every banner. Lowe's navigated a difficult housing market to report positive comparable sales and a 15.5% jump in online revenue.

Walmart: Platform Flywheel at Scale

Walmart reported consolidated revenue growth of nearly 6% in constant currency, landing 120 basis points above the top end of its own guidance range. The performance reflected strength across its U.S., international, and Sam's Club segments, with alternative revenue streams including advertising and membership fees contributing to the overall mix shift.

The eCommerce trajectory continued its established pattern: U.S. eCommerce grew more than 20% for the ninth consecutive quarter. Walmart U.S. marketplace net sales rose approximately 50%, and Walmart Fulfillment Services same-day and next-day units grew 150% year over year. That logistics acceleration underscores the degree to which the retailer has reoriented its physical store network as fulfillment infrastructure, converting store density into a competitive delivery advantage.

Sparky Drives Engagement and Spend

Walmart's AI shopping agent Sparky posted weekly active users up more than 100% quarter over quarter. Customers engaging with Sparky spent 35% more on average than those who did not, a behavioral signal that management cited as evidence of commercial impact rather than novelty adoption. The engagement data suggests the tool is reshaping how a meaningful share of Walmart's online shoppers discover and complete purchases.

The platform's strength came despite a $175 million headwind from unexpected fuel costs, a charge equivalent to approximately 250 basis points of operating income growth. Absorbing that cost while still beating the top end of guidance illustrated the operating leverage embedded in the business model, and reflected how the mix shift toward higher-margin alternative revenue is beginning to offset cost volatility in the core retail operation.

TJX: Margin Expansion Across Every Banner

TJX Companies reported first-quarter EPS of $1.19, up 29% year over year, on comparable sales growth of 6% across all banners. The earnings growth rate outpaced comp growth by a wide margin, reflecting meaningful expansion at the profit line rather than purely top-line volume.

Pretax profit margin reached 12.0%, up 170 basis points year over year. Gross margin expanded 180 basis points to 31.3%, a result that management attributed to favorable buying conditions, lower freight costs, and the structural flexibility of the off-price sourcing model. In periods when branded retailers carry excess inventory, TJX's opportunistic buying office is positioned to acquire merchandise at prices that widen the spread between cost and retail.

HomeGoods Leads Banner Results

Among TJX's individual banners, HomeGoods delivered the strongest comparable sales growth at 9%. Marmaxx U.S. grew 6%, Canada posted 7%, and international rose 4%. The breadth of positive comps across geographies and formats reinforced the company's positioning as a beneficiary of value-seeking consumer behavior, with no single region or banner dragging on overall results.

TJX raised full-year consolidated sales guidance to a range of $63.2 billion to $63.7 billion and lifted EPS guidance to $5.08 to $5.15. A mid-year guidance raise of that magnitude, following what is typically a seasonally lighter quarter, signals management's confidence in the structural demand environment for off-price retail heading into the back half of the year.

Lowe's: Positive Comps in a Compressed Housing Market

Lowe's reported Q1 2027 net sales of $23.1 billion, up more than 10% year over year. Comparable sales grew 0.6%, a result management characterized as a positive outcome given what it described as the most challenging housing market since the financial crisis. Adjusted EPS reached $3.03, up nearly 4% year over year, as cost discipline offset the modest comp growth.

The quarter included a weather-related distortion: February storms reduced quarterly comparable sales by 30 basis points from a single weekend of lost transactions. March comparable sales recovered to positive 2.1%, indicating that the underlying demand trend was stronger than the headline quarterly figure suggested. Stripping out the storm impact, the Q1 comparable trajectory aligned more closely with the March result.

Mylow and the Digital Channel

Lowe's AI assistant Mylow handled more than 1 million customer inquiries per month in Q1 2027. Customers who engaged with Mylow converted at triple the rate of non-users, a lift that the company attributed to improved project guidance and product recommendations delivered within the tool. Online sales grew 15.5% in the quarter, outpacing the overall sales growth rate and reflecting continued investment in the digital commerce experience. More detail on Lowe's operational results is available in the full [Lowe's Q1 2027 earnings](/podcasts/LOW_Q1_2027) episode.

The Pro contractor segment remained a strategic priority. Lowe's cited deepening penetration in the professional customer base as a driver of ticket size and repeat visit frequency, with the Pro cohort holding up better than the DIY segment in a market where housing turnover has compressed demand for large discretionary home projects.

Diverging Formats, Common Signals

Across the three companies, Q1 results illustrated how format determines sensitivity to macroeconomic conditions. Walmart's mass-market scale and logistics infrastructure give it volume leverage that is largely independent of discretionary spending cycles. TJX benefits when branded excess inventory becomes available at favorable prices, a dynamic that tends to strengthen during periods of inventory correction across the broader retail sector. Full coverage of the Walmart quarter is also available in the [Walmart Q1 2027 earnings](/podcasts/WMT_Q1_2027) episode.

Lowe's is more directly exposed to housing market activity, yet its Pro penetration and online investment have buffered that exposure. All three companies deployed AI tooling in customer-facing roles, with Walmart's Sparky and Lowe's Mylow both reporting quantifiable engagement and conversion impacts rather than qualitative adoption metrics. The specificity of that data, including spend lifts and conversion multiples, marks a shift from earlier quarters when AI announcements were largely descriptive.

Metrics to Watch in Q2 2027

Management guidance across the three companies identified distinct forward metrics. Walmart's eCommerce streak, and whether 20%+ growth extends to a tenth consecutive quarter, is one data point to track. TJX's ability to sustain gross margin near 31.3% while maintaining broad-based comp consistency across geographies is another, particularly as the favorable freight environment that supported Q1 may not persist at the same magnitude.

At Lowe's, the pace of housing market recovery and the trajectory of Pro contractor comps will shape whether the 0.6% Q1 comparable figure represents a floor or a near-term ceiling. The February storm drag and the March recovery to 2.1% comp growth provide a useful reference for reading the full-quarter composite against underlying demand conditions.

• Walmart: watch whether U.S. eCommerce 20%+ growth reaches a tenth consecutive quarter and whether Sparky engagement data continues to translate into measurable spend lift
• TJX: monitor gross margin sustainability near 31.3% and whether HomeGoods comparable growth holds above single digits after its 9% Q1 result
• Lowe's: track Pro contractor comp trends and housing turnover data as the primary drivers of comparable sales direction in Q2