Walmart (WMT) closed at $112.53 in the latest trading session, marking a -1.03% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.38% gain on the day. Elsewhere, the Dow saw an upswing of 0.29%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq appreciated by 0.62%.
Prior to today's trading, shares of the world's largest retailer had lost 6.06% lagged the Retail-Wholesale sector's gain of 0.54% and the S&P 500's gain of 1.61%.
Analysts and investors alike will be keeping a close eye on the performance of Walmart in its upcoming earnings disclosure. The company's earnings report is set to go public on August 20, 2026. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.74, up 8.82% from the prior-year quarter. In the meantime, our current consensus estimate forecasts the revenue to be $186.4 billion, indicating a 5.07% growth compared to the corresponding quarter of the prior year.
For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $2.89 per share and revenue of $750 billion, which would represent changes of +9.47% and +5.17%, respectively, from the prior year.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Walmart. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the business and profitability.
Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-term stock moves. To capitalize on this, we've crafted the Zacks Rank, a unique model that incorporates these estimate changes and offers a practical 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. Over the past month, there's been a 0.11% rise in the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. Right now, Walmart possesses a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
With respect to valuation, Walmart is currently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 39.36. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry average Forward P/E of 13.94.
Investors should also note that WMT has a PEG ratio of 4.24 right now. Comparable to the widely accepted P/E ratio, the PEG ratio also accounts for the company's projected earnings growth. The average PEG ratio for the Retail - Supermarkets industry stood at 1.92 at the close of the market yesterday.
The Retail - Supermarkets industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 195, putting it in the bottom 21% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Be sure to use Zacks.com to monitor all these stock-influencing metrics, and more, throughout the forthcoming trading sessions.
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Walmart Inc. (WMT): Free Stock Analysis Report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).