In the latest close session, Walmart (WMT) was down 1.74% at $124.56. The stock trailed the S&P 500, which registered a daily gain of 1.02%. At the same time, the Dow added 0.63%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 1.23%.
Shares of the world's largest retailer witnessed a gain of 0.2% over the previous month, trailing the performance of the Retail-Wholesale sector with its gain of 0.87%, and the S&P 500's gain of 0.63%.
The upcoming earnings release of Walmart will be of great interest to investors. It is anticipated that the company will report an EPS of $0.65, marking a 6.56% rise compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $174.05 billion, up 5.1% from the year-ago period.
For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates project earnings of $2.89 per share and a revenue of $748.75 billion, demonstrating changes of +9.47% and +4.99%, respectively, from the preceding year.
Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Walmart. These latest adjustments often mirror the shifting dynamics of short-term business patterns. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the business outlook.
Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.
The Zacks Rank system, spanning from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), boasts an impressive track record of outperformance, audited externally, with #1 ranked stocks yielding an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection remained stagnant. Right now, Walmart possesses a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
Investors should also note Walmart's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 43.88. This indicates a premium in contrast to its industry's Forward P/E of 14.9.
One should further note that WMT currently holds a PEG ratio of 4.72. The PEG ratio bears resemblance to the frequently used P/E ratio, but this parameter also includes the company's expected earnings growth trajectory. Retail - Supermarkets stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 2.28 based on yesterday's closing prices.
The Retail - Supermarkets industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This industry, currently bearing a Zacks Industry Rank of 77, finds itself in the top 32% echelons of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank is ordered 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.
You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.
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Walmart Inc. (WMT): Free Stock Analysis Report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).