(Bloomberg) -- Walmart Inc. jumped Tuesday after the retail giant reported strong quarterly results and boosted its annual forecast, putting its shares on pace to erase this year’s losses.

The stock rose 6.5%, the best one-day performance since March 17, 2020, and the highest in six months, after Walmart’s third-quarter profit and sales came in above analysts’ expectations and management raised its annual guidance, suggesting a healthy holiday season. Year to date, shares are up 1.9% compared to a 4.4% decline through Monday’s close.

This was a “grand slam” after a “challenging” second quarter, Citigroup Global Markets Inc. analyst Paul Lejuez wrote in a note. Furthermore, the total net sales and earnings-per-share guidance for the fourth quarter looks “conservative,” he says.

In addition to earnings and sales coming in above consensus estimates, Walmart “significantly improved” its inventory position, and Walmart US continued to show market share gains in the grocery category, Chief Executive Officer Doug McMillon said in a statement. Walmart-only US stores saw comparable sales, excluding gas, climb 8.2%, meaningfully beating the 3.46% growth expected by analysts. 

Peers including Target Corp. and Costco Wholesale Corp. also traded higher Tuesday. Target reports its third-quarter results Wednesday. 

(updates shares to reflect closing price)

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