Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Walmart (NYSE: WMT) are the two biggest U.S. companies by sales. They have a lot in common, and a lot that sets them apart. They've both split their shares over the past few years, with Walmart's latest split taking place just last month, and their stocks are both on the rise. So which one is the better buy today? Let's see.

Amazon ranks right behind Walmart as the second-largest U.S. company with $575 billion of net sales in 2023. However, its e-commerce business is way ahead of Walmart's, with 37.6% of all U.S. e-commerce sales vs. Walmart's distant second place with 6.4%. Since e-commerce is increasing as a percentage of retail sales, that's helping Amazon catch up to Walmart's overall lead in retail sales.

But Amazon's business is a lot more than e-commerce. E-commerce sales, including Amazon's online stores sales and third-party sales, together accounted for 67% of Amazon's total fourth-quarter revenue, and they're growing faster than Walmart's sales. But Amazon also operates Amazon Web Services (AWS), its cloud computing business, which accounted for 14% of total sales in the quarter. It's many smaller segments each represent high-growth opportunities.

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Source Fool.com