WMT - Walmart Inc.
| Previous Close | 109.65 |
| Open | 109.80 |
| Bid | 109.14 x 900 |
| Ask | 109.15 x 900 |
| Day's Range | 108.94 - 109.81 |
| 52 Week Range | 82.90 - 109.96 |
| Volume | 690,390 |
| Avg. Volume | 6,199,554 |
| Market Cap | 311.421B |
| Beta (3Y Monthly) | 0.62 |
| PE Ratio (TTM) | 38.17 |
| EPS (TTM) | 2.86 |
| Earnings Date | Aug 15, 2019 |
| Forward Dividend & Yield | 2.12 (1.93%) |
| Ex-Dividend Date | 2019-08-08 |
| 1y Target Est | 110.54 |
- Bloomberg•4 hours ago
Walmart’s Kickstarting a $1 Trillion Driverless Delivery Market
(Bloomberg) -- Walmart Inc. came to dominate retailing through its mastery of logistics—the complicated choreography of getting goods from farm or factory to the consumer. But even the world’s biggest store doesn’t make money selling its wares online in the U.S., largely due to runaway shipping costs. So Walmart is turning to robots.On a drizzly morning earlier this month, Walmart’s U.S. chief Greg Foran led reporters to a curbside package pickup kiosk outside its supercenter in Rogers, Arkansas. Idling there were three Ford delivery vans outfitted with self-driving technology developed by a Gatik, a Silicon Valley startup charged with a trial run aimed at cutting Walmart’s middle-mile shipping costs in half. Going driverless in pursuit of profit is a “no-brainer,” Foran said.As the buzz about human-carting robo-taxis starts to short-circuit, an unheralded segment of the driverless future is taking shape and showing promise: goods-moving robo-vans. Rather than serving up hot pizza pies or deploying headless robots to carry groceries to the doorstep, robo-vans travel on fixed routes from warehouse to warehouse or to a smaller pickup point, transporting packages to get them closer, but not all the way, to consumers.This may be the least glamorous part of the driverless delivery business, but the market for these monotonous “middle miles” could reach $1 trillion and may provide the fastest path to prosperity, analysts say.“This area has the least number of obstacles and the most certain return on invested capital in the near term,” said Mike Ramsey, an analyst with consultant Gartner Inc. “If you’re looking to start a business where you can actually generate revenue, this has fewer barriers than the taxi market.”Driving the demand is the boom in online shopping that has helped cause a severe shortage of truck drivers that tops 60,000 unfilled long-haul positions, according the American Trucking Associations. That has sent costs soaring for a job that is among the most dangerous due to the risk of wrecks and long periods spent on the road.Related: `Smokey and the Bandit' Charm Fades as Trucking Hiring Lags“This middle mile is the most expensive part of the whole supply chain; it’s a huge pain point,” said Gautam Narang, CEO of Gatik, which is attempting to automate Walmart’s “hub and spoke” warehouse system. “This fills a big gap in the market.”From a technological standpoint, business-to-business, or B2B, delivery is the straightforward counterpoint to the complexities of autonomous ride-hailing and driverless delivery directly to consumers, known as B2C or last-mile. Robo-vans like those being put to the test at Walmart follow fixed routes over and over, reducing the chance of mishaps and increasing their time in service generating revenue. Many of these routes are already established using human drivers today, so there’s little need to map new paths and create infrastructure to load and receive the goods.Related: Robot Rides Are Going to Deliver Pizza and Parcels Before PeopleFord Motor Co., testing many forms of driverless delivery, calls these repeatable routes “milk runs,” a throwback term to the days of household dairy delivery.“Anything on driverless delivery that is a milk run is a good application for autonomy,” said Sherif Marakby, chief executive officer of Ford’s autonomous vehicles unit. “B2C is a complex implementation for autonomy that will come with time, but B2B just makes it easier because you get volume and you can be more predictable.”The case for robots ferrying packages before people is becoming more compelling as robo-taxis struggle to gain traction. Consumers have grown wary of giving up the wheel, especially after a pedestrian was killed last year by an autonomous Uber Technologies Inc. test car. Waymo, Alphabet Inc.’s driverless unit, initiated limited automated ride-hailing in suburban Phoenix late last year with human “safety drivers” on board. General Motors Co. no longer says it will debut a similar service this year. Instead, CEO Mary Barra now says the rollout will be “gated by safety.”QuicktakeWhen the Driverless Cars Arrive, Will You Climb In?: QuickTakeDriverless delivery also has another big advantage over robo-taxis: no demanding human passengers. “People have more emotions than boxes,” Ford’s Marakby said.Meanwhile, driverless delivery is already hitting the road. Swedish startup Einride recently began low-speed robo-deliveries on public roads in its home country. It has signed up several Fortune 500 clients, like tire-maker Michelin, plus logistics service provider DB Schenker and German grocer Lidl.Looking like a Star Wars Imperial troop transport on wheels, Einride’s T-Pod trucks are 60% cheaper to build because they lack a passenger compartment. If they get into a jam, they can be remote controlled by humans from a command center. One human monitors the remote controls for 10 trucks. The T-Pods operate in self-driving mode 95% of the time, according to CEO and founder Robert Falck.Stuffed with payload and no human driver, a T-Pod can operate around the clock and cut shipping costs in half. That’s why Falck says his company is already profitable, though he declines to give specifics.“There are solid economics behind this and that’s also what the customer realizes,” Falck said. “If you break down the numbers, it’s the best business case out there.”TuSimple, a San Diego startup valued at $1.1 billion, leads a pack of tech outfits seeking to automate long-haul trucking. The company has a fleet of 50 robot Peterbilt and Navistar trucks that have been transporting commercial loads in Arizona for a year. And while it isn’t profitable yet, it expects to book revenue of more than $1 million a month in the second half of the year.“If you break down the numbers, it’s the best business case out there.”In the final two weeks of May, its self-driving big rigs—equipped with cameras that can see more than a half-mile down the road—completed 10 test runs for the U.S. Postal Service of an arduous 1,000-mile stretch from Phoenix to Dallas. Over Memorial Day weekend, the trucks faced howling crosswinds and “mud rain,” a blinding combination of dust, wind and rain. And yet the robo-rigs consistently beat human-driven trucks to the mail depot by as much as two hours. “We were approaching the edge of our operational design domain,” said Chuck Price, TuSimple’s chief product officer. “But we were able to demonstrate that we can do it much faster, with high consistency and high reliability. So bottom line, it’s more efficient.”By next year, TuSimple says it will pull the safety driver and engineer it currently has babysitting its rigs and go fully driverless—something no robo-taxi has committed to yet. By 2023 or 2024, the company plans to have “commercially ready” robo-rigs rolling out of a factory of a major truck maker.That kind of confidence is hard to come by these days among the purveyors of robo-taxis, still struggling to figure out how to navigate the pedestrians, cyclists and unpredictable traffic of chaotic urban environments. Increasingly, the call of the open road and the mundane middle miles between warehouses is proving to be the clearest path to the autonomous future. That’s why big players like Waymo and Tesla Inc.—still working on driverless people haulers—are also developing robo-rigs.“There’s absolutely a market for this sort of thing,” said Sam Abuelsamid, an analyst with Navigant Research. “People don’t really care much about what goes on behind the scenes to get them the products they want. But the value of all the goods being moved is far more than ride-hailing applications.”To contact the authors of this story: Keith Naughton in Southfield at knaughton3@bloomberg.netMatthew Boyle in New York at mboyle20@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Anne Riley Moffat at ariley17@bloomberg.net, Chester DawsonFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
- Moody's•17 hours ago
BJS Wholesale Club Inc -- Moody's announces completion of a periodic review of ratings of BJS Wholesale Club Inc
Moody's Investors Service ("Moody's") has completed a periodic review of the ratings of BJS Wholesale Club Inc and other ratings that are associated with the same analytical unit. The review was conducted through a portfolio review in which Moody's reassessed the appropriateness of the ratings in the context of the relevant principal methodology(ies), recent developments, and a comparison of the financial and operating profile to similarly rated peers. This publication does not announce a credit rating action and is not an indication of whether or not a credit rating action is likely in the near future.
Motley Fool•18 hours agoThe 1 Part of Walmart’s Online Strategy That Isn’t Working
The urban-focused Jet.com hasn’t lived up to expectations.
- Investopedia•21 hours ago
Kroger Reports Earnings Below a 'Death Cross'
The markets will be looking for guidance related to online sales and in-store foot traffic in the supermarket chain's upcoming report.
- MarketWatch•yesterday
Walmart adding wireless experts by the holidays, part of consumer electronics push
Walmart Inc. said Tuesday that it will add wireless experts to 600 more stores by the holidays, part of an overall push to upgrade consumer electronics departments. More than 3,000 Walmart stores will have dedicated wireless experts. Walmart also announced that, starting with AT&T Inc. customers, Walmart shoppers will be able to purchase a complete "postpaid" cell phone on the Walmart website. Each carrier will ultimately have its own page for cell phone purchases. Walmart plans to improve its consumer electronics offering nationwide with live product demos, more accessories and additional enhancements. Walmart stock is up 17% for the year to date while the Dow Jones Industrial Average has gained 13.2% for the period.
- Zacks•yesterday
Amazon Aims to Launch Booze Delivery Services in San Francisco
Amazon (AMZN) is in talks with San Francisco Board of Supervisors for the approval of its liquor license.
- Markit•yesterday
See what the IHS Markit Score report has to say about Walmart Inc.
Walmart Inc NYSE:WMTView full report here! Summary * Perception of the company's creditworthiness is positive * ETFs holding this stock are seeing positive inflows * Bearish sentiment is low * Economic output in this company's sector is contracting Bearish sentimentShort interest | PositiveShort interest is extremely low for WMT with fewer than 1% of shares on loan. This could indicate that investors who seek to profit from falling equity prices are not currently targeting WMT. Money flowETF/Index ownership | PositiveETF activity is positive. Over the last month, ETFs holding WMT are favorable, with net inflows of $9.63 billion. Additionally, the rate of inflows is increasing. Economic sentimentPMI by IHS Markit | NegativeAccording to the latest IHS Markit Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) data, output in the Consumer Servicesis falling. The rate of decline is significant relative to the trend shown over the past year, and is accelerating. Credit worthinessCredit default swap | PositiveThe current level displays a positive indicator. WMT credit default swap spreads are near the lowest level of the last three years and indicate the market's continued positive perception of the company's credit worthiness.Please send all inquiries related to the report to score@ihsmarkit.com.Charts and report PDFs will only be available for 30 days after publishing.This document has been produced for information purposes only and is not to be relied upon or as construed as investment advice. To the fullest extent permitted by law, IHS Markit disclaims any responsibility or liability, whether in contract, tort (including, without limitation, negligence), equity or otherwise, for any loss or damage arising from any reliance on or the use of this material in any way. Please view the full legal disclaimer and methodology information on pages 2-3 of the full report.
- Motley Fool•yesterday
Jet.com Has Almost Vanished -- and That's Fine With Walmart
Walmart paid a pretty penny for the e-commerce brand in 2016, but the retail giant has gotten its money's worth.
- InvestorPlace•yesterday
Why JD Stock Has the Potential to Trade Above $30
Shares of Chinese e-commerce giant JD (NYSE:JD) have been in bounceback mode in early 2019 for one very simple reason: the narrative surrounding JD stock has changed dramatically -- for the better -- over the past several months.Source: Daniel Cukier via FlickrSpecifically, over the past several years, the narrative surrounding JD stock has been one defined by rapidly decelerating revenue growth and profit-margin erosion, which led to concerns surrounding the company's long-term profit growth potential. As those concerns grew, JD stock dropped. From $50 in early 2018, to $20 by late 2018.But that slowing growth, compressing-margin narrative has changed course over the past several months. JD's revenue growth rates have started to stabilize in the 20% range. Profit margins have begun to expand meaningfully. Management expects both of those trends to persist for the foreseeable future. Thus, clarity and optimism have been injected into this company's long-term profit outlook. That dynamic has ultimately propelled JD stock 30% higher in 2019.InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading TipsJD stock will stay in rally mode for the foreseeable future. This new narrative implies that JD has big long-term profit growth potential. That big long-term profit growth potential still isn't fully priced into shares. Hence, JD stock has runway to head even higher over the next several months. * 7 Top-Rated Biotech Stocks to Invest In Today How much higher? The fundamentals say JD stock has runway to levels north of $30. Consequently, I'm staying bullish on this stock until it crosses above $30. The Narrative Has Changed for the BetterWhen it comes to JD, the big-picture narrative is pretty straightforward.You basically have the Chinese version of Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), which operates a giant e-commerce business in China's rapidly expanding and urbanizing consumer economy. Much like Amazon, JD operates that e-commerce business at slim profit margins, but the long-term plan is to win market share and then leverage scale to meaningfully expand profit margins. Also, much like Amazon, JD has jumped into multiple tangential growth verticals -- like logistics -- and while those businesses operate at poor margins today, they too will eventually scale into much more profitable operations.Because the long-term plan follows the Amazon roadmap and does pave the path for huge profit growth at scale, JD stock soared in early 2018 to $50.But that long-term plan was called into question throughout 2018, as the company's growth rates decelerated and margins failed to expand with scale. Specifically, from the end of 2017 to the end of 2018, revenue growth dropped from ~40% to ~20%. Meanwhile, operating margins were sliced in half from 0.8% to 0.4%. As investors questioned the long-term profit trajectory, they sold the stock, and shares of JD fell all the way to $20.In early 2019, though, the narrative has changed course. It once again supports huge profit growth at scale. Revenue growth has stabilized over the past two quarters around 20%, and projects to stay at 20% next quarter too. Meanwhile, operating margins expanded 70 basis points in the fourth quarter of 2018, and 80 basis points in the first quarter of 2019.Thus, the Amazon roadmap of sustained big revenue growth on top of margin expansion is once again the underlying trend at JD. This underlying trend ultimately supports JD stock shooting above $30 soon. JD Stock Has Good Upside PotentialThe numbers supporting JD stock look pretty good at the moment.You have a 20%-plus revenue growth company with growth that projects to stabilize around the 20% mark for the foreseeable future. At the same time, you have operating margins that are hugely depressed, hugging the flatline, making huge upward progress in early 2019, and which project to keep heading higher over the next several years. Thus, for the foreseeable future, JD projects as a big revenue-grower on top of big margin expansion, which should drive doubly big profit growth.That's why analysts see EPS essentially doubling this year, rising by 50% next year, and rising another 35% the following year. Net net, analysts think this is a 45% annualized profit-grower over the next several years. JD stock trades at less than 40 times forward earnings.A 40 forward multiple for 45% profit growth is an attractive combo. If you model that out, EPS should get to around $2.20 by fiscal 2023, from $0.34 in fiscal 2018. High quality retailers, like Walmart (NYSE:WMT), tend to trade around 20 times forward earnings. Based on that 20 multiple, a reasonable fiscal 2022 price target for JD stock is $44. Discounted back by 10% per year, that equates to a fiscal 2019 price target of roughly $33.Thus, this rally in JD stock has fundamentally supported runway to above $30 in 2019. Bottom Line on JD StockThe narrative surrounding JD stock has completely changed over the past two quarters. This new narrative -- defined by stable revenue growth and big margin expansion -- once again supports robust profit growth at scale. * The 10 Best Index Funds to Buy and Hold This robust profit growth is not fully priced into JD stock, yet, and the stock has fundamentally supported runway to levels above $30 in 2019.As of this writing, Luke Lango was long JD, AMZN, and WMT. More From InvestorPlace * 4 Top American Penny Pot Stocks (Buy Before June 21) * The 7 Best Tech Stocks to Buy for the Second Half of 2019 * 7 Top-Rated Biotech Stocks to Invest In Today * 4 Semiconductor Stocks to Sell Compare Brokers The post Why JD Stock Has the Potential to Trade Above $30 appeared first on InvestorPlace.
- Motley Fool•2 days ago
Amazon Is Improving the Whole Foods Experience
Whole Foods has seen a big improvement in customer experience over the past year.
- Motley Fool•2 days ago
Walmart's Taking On Target's Shipt and Amazon Prime Now
Customers can now pay an annual subscription for unlimited grocery delivery.
- Motley Fool•2 days ago
As Amazon Air Threat Grows, First Cracks in Carrier Relationships Appear
Other carriers may follow FedEx's lead and reassess their relationship with the e-commerce giant.
- Kiplinger•2 days ago
The 19 Best Stocks to Buy for the Rest of 2019
The past year has been exciting, if not a little stomach-churning. A raucous 25% rally to start the year unwound a miserable last few months of 2018, but that big advance has been chopped by one-third just since the beginning of May.Thus, when picking the best stocks to buy for the rest of 2019, you have to approach your selections with volatility - namely, avoiding it - in mind.Maybe the year's second act will be a little less exciting and a little more consistent for investors than the first. But with Chinese trade relations in limbo, Brexit still in the air and uncertainty about the Federal Reserve's future plans for interest rates, calm is far from a guarantee.To that end, here are the best stocks to buy for the rest of 2019. Not only are these stock picks a little less vulnerable to the volatility we've seen of late, but they each have solid backstories and/or fundamentals that should prove attractive if the hazy backdrop remains. SEE ALSO: The Berkshire Hathaway Portfolio: All 48 Buffett Stocks
- Benzinga•2 days ago
A Walmart World? Morgan Stanley Likes Walmart's Approach To Global Operations
Morgan Stanley’s Simeon Gutman raised Walmart's target price from $113 to $115, while keeping an Overweight rating on the stock. The company has a unique advantage because of its global footprint, which gives it perspective on how retailing is evolving in many places, while many competitors have only local information, Gutman wrote. Walmart is able to take what it learns about fulfillment, data usage, and e-commerce product curation, for example, in various locations and expanding those insights worldwide. 2.
- InvestorPlace•2 days ago
Amazon’s Advertising Business Is in a Transition
In its recent earnings, Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) reported a substantial slowdown in the growth of Others segment, which is primarily made of advertising revenue. At 36%, the growth rate in this segment is only a few percentage points higher than Facebook's (NASDAQ:FB) growth of 26% in the latest quarter. This has led to concerns that Amazon is close to hitting the saturation in terms of ad load and pricing. Strong growth in advertising segment gave a bullish momentum to Amazon stock in the last few quarters. Hence, a slowdown in this segment can hurt the long term sentiment.Source: Shutterstock InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading TipsHowever, there are a number of levers which Amazon can use to deliver better advertising growth in the near term. For starters, Amazon is experimenting with video search features. It is also developing better tools to improve ad conversions. Amazon has a long growth runway to improve its advertising business and increase the market share in digital advertising. The advertising segment continues to be an important factor for Amazon stock and investors should closely watch the future growth trend in this business. A Slowdown or a Transition for Amazon?The quick growth in Amazon's advertising business had taken the market by surprise. Now, it has increased expectations, which led to a mismatch between revenue growth and current capabilities. Amazon's advertising growth in the last few quarters was over 100% but that was due to an accounting change. If we remove this factor, the Q4 2018 growth was 38%. The growth rate in the advertising segment was between 51% and 73% in the previous quarters.Source: Amazon filingsFacebook was also at this revenue rate in 2014. Since then, it has reported an average revenue growth rate of close to 45%. And like Facebook, Amazon has a number of options to improve its revenue from advertising. Long-term investors should see better sentiment in Amazon stock as the company improves its advertising tool. * 7 Top-Rated Biotech Stocks to Invest In Today Amazon is currently trying to make those improvements with video search ads, which is a direct shot at Alphabet's (NASDAQ:GOOG, NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google. The less-controversial nature of Amazon's platform is also attracting more brands. Last year, Piper Jaffray's Michael Olson had forecasted that Amazon's advertising income will surpass AWS profits by 2021. Next Big Growth Driver for Amazon StockOne of the big opportunities with Amazon is to shift marketing spend from in-store branding. Morgan Stanley has estimated that a whopping $178 billion is spent on in-store brand promotions and coupons. While Google can only offer brand marketing to bigger consumer-packaged-goods (CPG) companies, Amazon can offer performance marketing. This means that Amazon's platform helps in driving sales for these companies. On the other hand, Google can only put the ads in front of customers -- it's far less of a guarantee of converting them into sales.This is a gradual process in which more ad dollars will shift to Amazon's platform. Walmart (NYSE:WMT) is trying to improve its own advertising business. Recently, the company moved its entire ad sales for its stores and website in-house. While Walmart has a larger sales base, Amazon is ahead in terms of its tools and third-party sales. This is a big advertising segment and Amazon is sure to grab more ad dollars from in-store promotions industry. What About the Competition?Amazon's rapid growth has alarmed Google and Facebook. Both these giants are now looking to expand their own retail presence. Facebook has launched new features which allow customers to directly make a purchase from within Instagram. Google has recently launched new shopping features at Google Marketing Live event. Users will be able to make purchases from within YouTube by the end of this year. Google will also have a personalized Google Shopping page where users can compare and filter by price and brands.According to eMarketer, Amazon is in third position behind the duopoly of Google and Facebook in terms of digital ads. And it's coming for them.Source: eMarketerIn the recent quarter, Amazon's growth was ahead of both Facebook and Google. As new features and advertising tools are launched by Amazon, we should see an upward trajectory for growth in advertising revenue. Amazon's advertising segment is currently close to $10 billion on a trailing-12-month basis. At the current growth rate, this number should hit $20 billion by the end of 2020. Better margins in advertising will help in driving the overall margins higher. We have already seen this in the past few quarters. Amazon reported an operating margin of 7.4% compared to 3.8% in the year-ago quarter. Investor TakeawayThe concerns over a slowdown of the advertising segment in Amazon are overblown. Even at the current growth rate, Amazon should be able to show a revenue trajectory similar to that shown by Facebook in the last five years. There is a high probability that we will see an uptick in advertising growth from Amazon as new tools and features are launched.The long-term growth projections for Amazon's advertising segment are very bright. This will help in lifting the operating margin of the entire company and help in the improvement of EPS. And we should continue to see bullish momentum in Amazon stock in the near future as the advertising segment increases its revenue share. As of this writing, Rohit Chhatwal did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. More From InvestorPlace * 4 Top American Penny Pot Stocks (Buy Before June 21) * The 7 Best Tech Stocks to Buy for the Second Half of 2019 * 7 Top-Rated Biotech Stocks to Invest In Today * 4 Semiconductor Stocks to Sell Compare Brokers The post Amazon's Advertising Business Is in a Transition appeared first on InvestorPlace.
- Benzinga•2 days ago
Entrepreneurs Take Home $1.2M In Funding At Quicken Loans' Demo Day
Fifteen entrepreneurs pitched judges at the Fillmore Detroit for a share of $1.2 million in funding at the Friday event, which marks the beginning of Detroit Startup Week. Ellis Island Tea, a homegrown hibiscus tea business founded by Nailah Ellis-Brown, took home the grand prize investment of $300,000.
- InvestorPlace•2 days ago
NBEV Stock Is More Than Just CBD — But It’s Still Not Enough
In a frothy market you can get a mighty high multiple if you're in the right niche. Like marijuana. That's the story of New Age Beverages (NASDAQ:NBEV). NBEV stock tripled last September after announcing a drink containing CBD. Its drinks even have a picture of the late Bob Marley on them.But pot isn't NBEV's real business. Canned beverages are its business. Things like coffee, tea and kombucha. Sodas with strange combinations like watermelon and coconut, the kind of stuff you'll try at a soda ranch on Route 66.InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading TipsSince that September explosion, where it briefly traded at almost $9, NBEV stock has lost its fizz, settling into a trading range of between $4-6 per share. But its market cap, $350 million, remains impressive for a drinks company with March quarter sales of $58 million, and no profit.But still. Pot! What NBEV Is Up ToNew Age Beverages has used its moment in the pot limelight to bulk up the product line. The highlight was this month's purchase of Brands Within Reach, for $6.4 million, only $500,000 of it cash. * 7 Top-Rated Biotech Stocks to Invest In Today Brands Within Reach has brand licensing and distribution rights for some mainstream beverages, like cold Nestea and Illy coffee. The idea is that this gets New Age in the door at mainstream retailers like Walmart (NYSE:WMT) and Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST), which then might look at its more esoteric brands.This came just six months after buying Morinda Holdings, another small company but with distribution in 60 countries. The idea there was to expand the market for its CBD products.The Morinda combination is already in the numbers due to be reported August 8, where sales of $70.8 million are expected. Following on the first quarter take of $58 million, that's good growth and, if the pattern persists through the year, it could lead to sales equaling the stock's current market cap by this time next year.That's important, because New Beverage CEO Brent Willis knows he's in the drinks business, not the pot business. He promised to focus on execution after buying Morinda, but the chance to buy into serious beverages with just stock was too good to pass up. What Next for NBEV Stock?Some analysts got very bullish on New Age after the Morinda buy, predicting imminent profits and a steady rise to $9 per share, which would be double its current level.InvestorPlace's Josh Enomoto disagrees. He sees the Brands Within Reach acquisition as a turn away from CBD, the source of its frothy valuation. He also sees the current brands as nothing special.Personally, I like the Brands Within Reach deal. NBEV now has both brands that can get it into the door of big retailers and global distribution for its CBD products. But drinks remain a risky business, a land of giants in which NBEV is a mouse. If Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO), Pepsico (NYSE:PEP) or even Keurig Dr Pepper (NYSE:KDP) decided there was something to this CBD thing, they could blow NBEV out of the water quickly. The Bottom Line on NBEV StockI think the owners of Brands Within Reach know all this, so there's an overhang of almost $6 million in stock, itching to be sold right now.Much of the rest of the common stock is held by speculators looking for a quick payout. Institutions hold just over 13% of the common, against almost 26% held by insiders. I think they will bail, too, at the first sign of bad news. * 7 Top-Rated Biotech Stocks to Invest In Today In other words, NBEV stock has a sell-by date, and execution alone won't stave it off.Dana Blankenhorn is a financial and technology journalist. He is the author of the mystery thriller, The Reluctant Detective Finds Her Family, available at the Amazon Kindle store. Write him at danablankenhorn@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter at @danablankenhorn. As of this writing he owned no shares in companies mentioned in this article. Compare Brokers The post NBEV Stock Is More Than Just CBD -- But It's Still Not Enough appeared first on InvestorPlace.
- InvestorPlace•2 days ago
Target Stock Is Still One of the Best Retail Plays
It's no secret that Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) shook up the retail sector, especially the brick-and-mortar boxes. That created a global trend to shift most shopping transactions online. This is not a fad and it is still in its infancy stage so it won't reverse anytime soon. All retail companies are either already present online or scrambling to get there, so the acceleration is exponential. There are a few winners but most are struggling, Most brick-and-mortar stores continue to suffer even after a decade of the AMZN shock. Some have perished along the way, and many outcomes are still in limbo.Source: Mike Mozart via Flickr (Modified)But there are clear winners like Target (NYSE:TGT), Costco (NASDAQ:COST) and Walmart (NYSE:WMT) who are still thriving. Today's write-up is to share an upside opportunity that could take Target stock to $120 per share.Year-to-date, Target stock is up 32%, which is at least 17% better than WMT and AMZN and almost double that of Costco. The SPDR S&P Retail ETF (NYSEARCA:XRT) is merely up 2% for the same period. Macy's (NYSE:M) and Kohl's (NYSE:KSS) are down 25% in 2019.InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading TipsClearly, Wall Street is in favor of Target's prospects. However, the next few upticks won't be easy as it is headed into resistance.Last year ended badly for stocks. The disaster started in October and TGT stock, like the rest of them, fell off a cliff on Oct. 2, but it fought hard a month before finishing the 33% correction from September top to December bottom. But since then, TGT rebounded hard and rallied 45% to recover the entire correction. * 7 Top-Rated Biotech Stocks to Invest In Today When a stock recovers from a massive accident and reaches the ledge from which it fell, usually it encounters selling. Investors who got stuck long TGT close to $90 will want out. Besides pivot zones, this usually creates congestion in price action, which translates into resistance. So, TGT will need time and a few pushes to breach through the October accident scene.The TGT rally was not sector-wide as only the stars have bounced well. The XRT, M, KSS and JC Penny (NYSE:JCP) did not recover. So clearly investor sentiment still favors owning TGT, WMT or COST in retail.This is not a coincidence since they have all used thin margins as a power pitch for a long time, even before Amazon. So this made it a fair fight among the four. WMT and COST compete the hardest in that area, but Target lies somewhere in the in the middle.Even though its stock is up more than the other three winners it is still the cheapest of them as well. TGT has a price-to-earnings ratio of 16, which is half that of WMT and COST and five times cheaper than Amazon.So why is Target the stock to buy? It's doing things right and it's still cheap. It's just a matter of picking the right entry point.Since it's coming into resistance, those who are looking to own Target shares for the long term can start with a partial position now thereby leaving room to build it up in the next few weeks.More active traders can chase the break out above the highs. TGT stock will attract buyers above $89.20 but then more at $90.50. It is important to note that it could already be in a breakout targeting $97 per share. Crossing the all-time high could raise the target to $120 per share. The bulls have been setting higher lows attacking necklines. They already crossed the one near $83 and the all-time high is the next. How to Approach Target Stock NowFundamentally, Target management found a few niches in technology and fashion and they have avoided many of the typical retail pitfalls. They've always been a bargain play but with style and they continue to build upon those tools. They've even skirted a few headlines in the past few years, so this team is competent enough to get the job done.I can say the same for Walmart and COST, but they are both too expensive right now from my taste. Wall Street is giving them too much love so they are vulnerable to negative headlines. Conversely, TGT has less froth to shed on bad news. Yes, it's more expensive than say Macy's, but for good reason -- cheaper is not always better.Critics say that Wall Street is too flippant in the face of many concerns. But this time, unlike like last year, the Federal Reserve are no longer raising rates, in fact consensus is that they are going to cut rates maybe as early as this week. So they will prop up stocks if they need to, even though we have full employment and a strong retail environment. * The 10 Best Index Funds to Buy and Hold This is pretty close to Utopia, where good and bad economic news are good for stocks. This is why the bears are unable to maintain selling pressure on the indices too long, unlike they did last fall. The buy-the-dip-gang is in full control … for now.Case in point, sellers tried to break the Target stock rally in April but they failed. Buyers successfully defended it and finished the rally job.In summary, there are few winners in the retail sector and among them TGT stock is most interesting now. But since we are still in the middle of a whirlwind of geopolitical headlines, it's best to start with a partial position thereby leaving room to add some more ever time. After all the equity markets are near all-time highs so they are vulnerable to corrections.Nicolas Chahine is the managing director of SellSpreads.com. As of this writing, he did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. Join his live chat room free here. More From InvestorPlace * 4 Top American Penny Pot Stocks (Buy Before June 21) * The 7 Best Tech Stocks to Buy for the Second Half of 2019 * 7 Top-Rated Biotech Stocks to Invest In Today * 4 Semiconductor Stocks to Sell Compare Brokers The post Target Stock Is Still One of the Best Retail Plays appeared first on InvestorPlace.
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