• Walmart shares rose as much as 8.4 percent to an all-time high on Thursday after the company reported strong sales for the latest quarter.
• Walmart is likely to be an outlier, analysts say, as consumers overall hold back on spending.
• Companies from McDonald’s to Home Depot have reported weaker consumer sentiment in their latest earnings statements.

US consumers are fed up with high prices and inflation. Yet they are still flocking to Walmart. Sales there reached new highs in the last quarter, driving the company’s share price to new record highs on Thursday.

The stock rose as much as 8.4% to an all-time high of $74.44. This year alone, Walmart shares are up over 39%.

The big gain in Thursday’s session came as the company reported strong sales growth in the latest quarter, even as U.S. consumers have become more cautious overall.

Walmart said U.S. sales rose 4.2% year-on-year last quarter, compared to estimates of 3.5%. The company also raised its full-year sales growth forecast to 3.75% to 4.75% from 3% to 4%.

The strong sales and figures as well as the optimistic forecast follow almost a decade of continuous sales growth at the country’s largest retailer.

Walmart is “on its own path,” UBS retail analyst Michael Lasser said in an interview with CNBC on Thursday. “It’s less about the general consumer environment, because that’s a challenge, but more about Walmart.”

Lasser pointed to Walmart’s convenience, attractive prices and growing online business. The fact that so many U.S. consumers shop at Walmart regularly also gives the store more access to reach its customers, he said.

US retail sales for July posted a surprise increase, rising 1% over the last month.

Throughout this summer’s earnings season, companies like McDonald’s, Home Depot and Disney reported lower-than-expected spending, indicating consumer fatigue with high prices after two years of high inflation.

Richard McPhail, chief financial officer of Home Depot, said he is seeing a “delay mentality” as consumers put off spending until they see lower prices and interest rates.

However, consumer inflation is cooling and has reached its lowest level in over three years. The consumer price index rose 2.9 percent in July, according to data released on Wednesday. This week’s weaker inflation data has led markets to believe a rate cut in September is a sure thing.