Walmart (WMT) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know

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Walmart (WMT) closed the most recent trading day at $118.45, moving +0.13% from the previous trading session. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.53%. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 0.26%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 1.13%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the world's largest retailer had gained 3.7% over the past month. This has outpaced the Retail-Wholesale sector's gain of 2.04% and the S&P 500's gain of 3.59% in that time.

WMT will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.09, up 0.93% from the prior-year quarter. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $128.99 billion, up 3.28% from the year-ago period.

WMT's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $4.91 per share and revenue of $526.64 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of 0% and +2.38%, respectively.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for WMT. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.18% higher within the past month. WMT currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Investors should also note WMT's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 24.07. This represents a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 14.

Meanwhile, WMT's PEG ratio is currently 5.09. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. WMT's industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.4 as of yesterday's close.

The Retail - Supermarkets industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 108, putting it in the top 43% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Make sure to utilize Zacks. Com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.


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