Walmart (WMT) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know
In the latest trading session, Walmart (WMT) closed at $139.80, marking a -0.21% move from the previous day. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.15%.
Heading into today, shares of the world's largest retailer had gained 9.03% over the past month, outpacing the Retail-Wholesale sector's gain of 3.01% and the S&P 500's gain of 6.19% in that time.
Investors will be hoping for strength from WMT as it approaches its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect WMT to post earnings of $1.21 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 2.54%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $131.59 billion, down 2.25% from the prior-year quarter.
WMT's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $5.42 per share and revenue of $547.23 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of -1.09% and -2.13%, respectively.
It is also important to note the 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.
Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.18% lower within the past month. WMT is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #5 (Strong Sell).
Looking at its valuation, WMT is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 25.72. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 12.43.
It is also worth noting that WMT currently has a PEG ratio of 4.68. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. The Retail - Supermarkets was holding an average PEG ratio of 2.1 at yesterday's closing price.
The Retail - Supermarkets industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 237, putting it in the bottom 7% 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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