{
  "id": 8634317,
  "title": "Walmart Vs Kroger: Jim Cramer Couldn’t Figure Out Why Only One’s Shares Went Up",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/18/walmart-vs-kroger-jim-cramer-couldnt-figure-out-why-only-ones-shares",
  "topic": "finance",
  "section": "Finance & Markets",
  "published": "2026-09-18T23:19:54.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Yahoo Finance",
    "slug": "yahoo-finance",
    "url": "https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/walmart-vs-kroger-jim-cramer-231954802.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "In the span of four days between September 11th and September 14th, Walmart Inc. (WMT) shares experienced an increase in value. Prior to the market opening on September 11th, The Kroger Co. (KR) announced its second quarter earnings, which led to a 2.7% rise in their stock price. CNBC's Jim Cramer has frequently discussed Walmart Inc. over the past couple of months, expressing dissatisfaction with the company's recent performance and suggesting that investors should consider selling their shares due to a high valuation.\n\nDuring his appearance on CNBC on September 15th, Cramer addressed Walmart's earnings in the context of negative financial results. He noted that despite the poor performance, Walmart's stock price still rose, while Kroger's stock did not react to the negative earnings. Cramer questioned whether the two companies might achieve higher margins in the future.\n\nKroger's second quarter results were disappointing, with the company cutting its full-year identical sales growth guide from 1% to 2%. Moreover, Kroger's identical sales growth in the second quarter decreased significantly, landing at 0.2%, which was lower than analyst estimates of 0.9%. The decline in sales was attributed to lighter consumer spending during an inflationary period, as consumers made more store trips but reduced discretionary spending and the size of their shopping baskets. Additionally, the firm's operating margin remained flat at 2.8% annually, although its high-margin marketing business, KPM, managed to grow its profits by 24% annually, providing some relief for the company's margins.\n\nOn the other hand, Walmart's second quarter saw a comparable sales growth of 2.6%, which was the slowest in nearly five years and missed analyst estimates of 3.7%. The company also acknowledged the impact of higher fuel prices, expecting a $10 billion cost headwind from the increased prices in fiscal year 2027. Despite these challenges, Walmart's advertising revenue growth remained strong, with a 38% increase, and initiatives such as Walmart Connect grew by 43%. While Walmart's forward P/E ratio of 37 is substantially higher than Kroger's 11.96, it is understandable that Cramer had previously advised selling Walmart's shares on August 24th, unless investors have a specific plan.",
  "summary": null,
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}