Walmart

San Francisco -- Walmart has the most engaged users across its social media platforms as the days count down to the holiday shopping season, according to a study by the social media and digital analytics company Socialbakers.

Walmart has the most number of fans topping the list at over 10 million fans, with over 7,500 fan posts last month, Socialbakers said. The engagement rate represents fan interactions and although Target ties with an average monthly engagement rate, Walmart has nearly double the number of fans who are actively posting.

Sam’s Club president and CEO Brian Cornell may have been the last of Walmart’s three divisional presidents to speak on the company’s conference call, but he had the best news to share.

Sam’s produced a 5.7% third-quarter same-store sales increase that was unaided by fuel prices, and Cornell indicated the string of seven consecutive quarters of sequentially increasing comps could be extended in the fourth quarter, with guidance that set 6% as the upper end of the forecast range. 

Walmart gave investors an early Christmas gift earlier this week in the form of a long-awaited third-quarter same-stores sales increase, then ruined the holiday spirit by coming up a penny short of analysts’ earnings estimates.

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. That seems to be the message implied in Walmart’s guidance for fourth-quarter same-store sales in a range of flat to up 2%. The company’s comps expectations follow a third-quarter increase of 1.3% that ended a two-year string of negative results, but appear rather muted against the backdrop of talk about the company’s gathering momentum, the effectiveness of strategies and solid positioning for the holidays.

SAN BRUNO, Calif. — Walmart announced that it is offering free shipping on electronics more than $45 through Dec. 19 at Walmart.com.

BUENOS AIRES  — Ezequiel Gómez Berard, CEO of Walmart Argentina, joined the Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Industry Minister Débora Giorigi, Economy Minister (Vice President elected) Amado Boudou, Osvaldo Mosteirin, Walmart Argentina CAO; Horacio Barbeito, Walmart Argentina CMO, and Hernán Carboni, Walmart director of corporate affairs, in the office of the Argentine President to discuss Walmart's progress in Argentina.

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Walmart delivered a long awaited same-store sales increase of 1.3% at its U.S. stores division in the third quarter and pointed to ongoing momentum for the holidays with comps guidance in the range of flat to up 2%.

Bentonville, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. on Tuesday posted the first quarterly revenue gain in its U.S. namesake business in more than two years, but the discounter's profit was down 2.9%. Profit for the quarter ended Oct. 31 was $3.33 billion, missing Wall Street expectations.