• GRIT
  • Posts
  • 👉 Walmart's "Sparky" Drives +35% Higher AOVs

👉 Walmart's "Sparky" Drives +35% Higher AOVs

Palo Alto Networks, Figma, Tariffs

In partnership with

👉 Week in Review — Too Long; Didn’t Read:

Key Earnings Announcements:

  • Palo Alto Networks is experiencing rapid adoption of their AI-specific security tools.

  • Figma’s “land and expand” strategy is best-in-class.

  • Walmart’s AI tool “Sparky” is driving +35% AOVs.

Investor Events / Global Affairs:

  • The Supreme Court rules against Trump’s tariffs.

  • Meta will buy millions of Nvidia chips.

  • OpenAI targets $600B of compute spend by 2030.

Economic Updates:

  • The Fed meeting minutes showed a big divide between members of the committee.

  • GDP growth came in well below estimates (for now).

👉 Portfolio Updates

The overall portfolio is experiencing some much needed stability. At the moment, I’m sitting on roughly $200K cash (steadily deploying this into the energy and international ETFs mentioned a few weeks ago as I continue to expect market-wide volatility), $50K currently invested into those international and energy names, $50K in NEOS Funds, $220K in our dividend growth portfolio, and another $250K or so between Amazon, Tesla, and a handful of other energy and commodities.

Dividend Growth Portfolio

NEOS Funds

International + Energy

The Dividend Growth Stock portfolio is suffering because nearly 65% of its value depends on the performance of Big Tech and High Beta Names — both of these categories are currently under pressure. However, that doesn’t bother me as I have a long-term thesis in all of the holdings inside this portfolio. I know where these stocks are headed over the coming years and will happily buy these names all the way down.

The Money Income (NEOS Funds) portfolio is doing what it does best — produce tax-efficient monthly income. BTCI is taking a beating as Bitcoin is well into it’s bear market. We’ll likely see this continue into the summertime, and maybe see relief in Q4 of this year. BTCI remains my favorite way to own Bitcoin while its in a bear market — get paid ~30% yield to wait for it to go back up! Sounds good to me.

The International + Energy names are doing quite well. This portfolio is up +2.7% over the last three weeks while QQQ is down -1.3% and VOO is flat. I continue to believe 2026 will be plagued with volatility as many high-beta names already experienced their climax tops, and other market leaders like Microsoft begin to rollover.

I continue to accumulate shares of Amazon and other one-off energy and commodity stocks and ETFs. I firmly believe these positions (across the entire portfolio) will provide stability throughout 2026.

👉 Best and Worst ETF Performers of the Week

Want to get the most out of ChatGPT?

ChatGPT is a superpower if you know how to use it correctly.

Discover how HubSpot's guide to AI can elevate both your productivity and creativity to get more things done.

Learn to automate tasks, enhance decision-making, and foster innovation with the power of AI.

👉 Key Earnings Announcements:

Palo Alto Networks is experiencing rapid adoption of their AI-specific security tools, Figma’s “land and expand” strategy is best-in-class, and Walmart’s AI tool “Sparky” is driving +35% AOVs.

  • Palo Alto Network (PANW)

Key Metrics

Revenue: $2.6 billion, an increase of +15% YoY

Operating Income: $785.0 million, an increase of +27% YoY

Profits: $432.0 million, an increase of +62% YoY

Earnings Release Callout

“We saw continued strength in platformizations, a trend that is accelerating due to AI—customers are keen to both modernize and normalize their cybersecurity stack, aligning them to our approach. We also saw steady and strong adoption of AI security, which we expect will be a long-term trend. We are excited to welcome the employees of Chronosphere and CyberArk to help us drive our growth in the future.”

My Takeaway

The company successfully executed on its "platformization" strategy, proving that large enterprises are eager to consolidate their security vendors into a single, cohesive ecosystem. The real story was the explosive 33% growth in Next-Generation Security ARR and the market-shifting acquisitions the company finalized to expand its total addressable market.

SASE ARR crossed the $1.5 billion threshold, growing 40%, while Cortex XSIAM surpassed $500 million. Importantly, the company is seeing rapid early adoption of its AI-specific security tools, with the Prisma AIRS customer base tripling quarter-over-quarter as companies rush to secure generative AI deployments.

Adjusted free cash flow for the trailing twelve months hit $3.75 billion, representing a 38% margin. Remaining Performance Obligations grew 23% to $16 billion, ensuring a highly visible and predictable revenue pipeline for the coming years. Management stated that as AI agents become "autonomous employees," the old playbook of fragmented security tools is obsolete. By acquiring CyberArk and Chronosphere, Palo Alto Networks is betting that Identity and Observability must be natively integrated into the security stack to protect real-time AI decisions.

The company guided for NGS ARR to hit over $8.5 billion — a 53% growth rate inclusive of inorganic additions.

Long PANW.

  • Figma (FIG)

Key Metrics

Revenue: $303.8 million, an increase of +40% YoY

Operating Loss: -$195.5 million, compared to $51.7 million last year

Net Loss: -$226.6 million, compared to $97.8 million last year

Earnings Release Callout

“2025 was a massive year for Figma, and the fourth quarter was our best quarter yet. Our accelerated revenue and customer growth going into 2026 reflect design's power and Figma's essential place at the center of the product development stack.”

My Takeaway

Crossing the $1 billion annual revenue run rate is a rare feat in the SaaS world, and doing it while accelerating top-line growth to 40% proves that Figma’s platform remains very important despite the rise of AI. However, management signaled that 2026 will require heavy AI-related spending that will temporarily compress profit margins — causing the stock to sink.

The GAAP operating loss widened significantly to $195.5 million, but this was entirely driven by the massive stock-based compensation charges related to their recent IPO. Stripping away those non-cash charges, the underlying business is highly profitable, generating $44 million in Non-GAAP operating income and showcasing an 86% gross margin.

Their Net Dollar Retention Rate climbed to an impressive 136%, meaning existing enterprise customers are aggressively increasing their spend on the platform. The company added 143 new customers paying over $100,000 a year in Q4 alone. Additionally, the adoption of their generative AI suite, Figma Make, is exploding, with weekly active users up +70% sequentially. Figma generated nearly $40 million in operating cash flow for the quarter.

Looking ahead, management guided to +30% revenue growth.

No position.

  • Walmart (WMT)

Key Metrics

Revenue: $190.7 billion, an increase of +6% YoY

Operating Income: $8.7 billion, an increase of +11% YoY

Profits: $4.2 billion, compared to $5.3 billion last year

Earnings Release Callout

"And our financial results show that we're not only embracing this change, we're leading it. For our customers and members, the future is fast, convenient, and personalized."

My Takeaway

The company delivered a top-and-bottom-line beat, highlighted by staggering 24% growth in global eCommerce and massive strides in its high-margin advertising and membership businesses. While GAAP net income optically fell to $4.24 billion due to a non-cash loss on equity investments, the core profitability of the business was exceptional. Operating income surged 10.8% to $8.7 billion, growing nearly twice as fast as sales.

Digital sales now account for 23% of Walmart’s total revenue, driven by a 27% surge in the U.S. business. Consumers are flocking to store-fulfilled expedited delivery, which grew over 60% for the year. Furthermore, the company continues to aggressively capture market share from upper-income households (earning over $100k), a cohort that came for the groceries during peak inflation but is now staying for the convenience and general merchandise.

The company produced nearly $15 billion in free cash flow for the year, allowing the Board to authorize a historic $30 billion share repurchase program. Management highlighted the early success of "Sparky," their AI shopping assistant, noting it drives a 35% higher average order value. The broader theme was that Walmart's alternative profit pools—specifically the 37% growth in global advertising and the 15% growth in membership fees—are fundamentally changing the company's margin profile, insulating it from the razor-thin margins of traditional grocery retail.

No position, but this might change soon.

👉 Investor Events / Global Affairs:

The Supreme Court rules against Trump’s tariffs, Meta will buy millions of Nvidia chips, and OpenAI targets $600B of compute spend by 2030.

  • Supreme Court Ruled Against Tariffs, Trump Says He Will Now Raise Them

Source: Vox

Donald Trump announced he is raising the newly introduced global tariff from 10% to 15%, just one day after unveiling the lower rate, escalating trade tensions and market uncertainty. The move comes after the Supreme Court of the United States ruled 6–3 that his prior use of emergency powers to impose sweeping “reciprocal” tariffs was unlawful.

Trump is now using Section 122 of the 1974 Trade Act, which allows temporary tariffs for up to 150 days without congressional approval, though the policy is likely to face fresh legal challenges. The sudden shift underscores how fluid U.S. trade policy remains, with businesses forced to navigate rapidly changing cost structures. There are also open questions around potential tariff refunds, with as much as $170 billion in collected revenue potentially exposed depending on lower court rulings.

For markets, the bigger issue isn’t just the rate itself — it’s the unpredictability. Trade policy volatility complicates supply chains, earnings forecasts, and inflation expectations at a time when investors are already parsing mixed economic signals.

"The Supreme Court's ruling on tariffs is deeply disappointing and I'm ashamed of certain members of the court, absolutely ashamed, for not having the courage to do what's right for our country.”

— President Trump

  • Meta Agrees to Deploy Millions of Nvidia Chips

Subscribe to GRIT Premium to read the rest.

Become a paying subscriber of GRIT Premium to get access to this post and other subscriber-only content.

Already a paying subscriber? Sign In.

A subscription gets you:

  • • WEEK IN REVIEW: Full access to the internet's best recap of the markets, every single week. This includes comprehensive earnings breakdowns, portfolio updates, and more. This is the perfect compliment to the "Investing Week Ahead" post that you already receive at the beginning of each week.
  • • MONTHLY LIVESTREAMS: Join Austin Hankwitz live every month to dive deep into his portfolio, explore the latest trends, discuss any changes he’s making, and cover market-moving topics.
  • • PORTFOLIO ACCESS – Austin Hankwitz, Warren Buffett, Bill Ackman, and other professional / billionaire investor portfolios.
  • • MONTHLY STOCK DEEP DIVES – Comprehensive stock analysis on an individual ticker, delivered at the end of each month.
  • • RESOURCES – A wide variety of investment resources for both beginners and advanced investors to accelerate your portfolio.