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Walmart Boosts Growth Playbook With Healthcare, Omnichannel Push

Zacks Investment Research - Tue Apr 21, 8:56AM CDT
Walmart Boosts Growth Playbook With Healthcare, Omnichannel Push

Walmart Inc.WMT is expanding its growth agenda by pushing deeper into healthcare services, with its latest move centered on weight-management support for customers using or considering GLP-1 drugs.

The company has widened its Better Care Services platform to bring together virtual care, nutrition counseling and pharmacy access in a single ecosystem. The initiative is designed to simplify a treatment journey that is often fragmented across doctors, dietitians, prescription providers and insurers. By linking third-party care providers with its nationwide pharmacy footprint, Walmart is positioning itself as a broader health-and-wellness destination.

The GLP-1 segment is drawing rising consumer interest and creating opportunities for recurring customer interaction across multiple needs, from medication fulfillment to food choices and wellness support. Walmart’s latest rollout also includes a redesigned digital destination for GLP-1 users, alongside nutrition tools that can guide food and recipe choices. In effect, the company is building a wider services layer around the medication rather than competing only on prescription access.

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Healthcare Push Fits WMT’s Broader Digital Strategy

This initiative also reflects Walmart’s larger effort to use convenience as a growth driver. On its fourth-quarter fiscal 2026 earnings call, management highlighted the strength of its omnichannel model, with e-commerce sales up 24% and customers increasingly using fast delivery options. The same infrastructure can also support healthcare-related purchases and prescription fulfillment, giving Walmart an advantage in combining digital access with physical reach.

At the same time, the company’s broader strategy remains centered on scaling higher-margin businesses such as advertising, memberships and marketplace services while using automation and AI to improve efficiency. These newer profit streams are helping diversify earnings and support reinvestment.

Overall, the Better Care Services expansion appears to be part of Walmart’s broader effort to use its scale, digital capabilities and store network to build new growth engines beyond traditional retail. If successful, this approach could strengthen customer engagement, expand Walmart’s role in everyday health management and reinforce its evolution into a more diversified consumer platform.

The Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock has rallied 38.4% over the past year, outperforming the industry’s growth of 36.3%.

Stocks to Consider

Five Below, Inc.FIVE, which operates as a specialty value retailer, currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). FIVE delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 63.4%, on average. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Five Below’s current fiscal-year sales and earnings suggests growth of 11.3% and 20.2%, respectively, from the year-ago figures.

Deckers Outdoor CorporationDECK, which designs, markets and distributes footwear, apparel and accessories, currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at present. 

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Deckers Outdoor’s current fiscal-year sales calls for growth of nearly 8.9%, and estimates for earnings suggest an 8.5% increase from the year-ago figure. DECK delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 36.9%, on average.

Tapestry, Inc. TPR, a provider of accessories and lifestyle brand products, currently carries a Zacks Rank of 2. TPR delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 12.8%, on average.

The consensus estimate for Tapestry’s current fiscal-year sales and earnings suggests growth of 11.2% and 26.5%, respectively, from the year-ago figures.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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