In the latest trading session, Walmart (WMT – Free Report) closed at $90, marking a -0.39% move from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500’s daily loss of 0.22%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.36%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.16%.
The world’s largest retailer’s stock has dropped by 4.34% in the past month, falling short of the Retail-Wholesale sector’s loss of 1.69% and the S&P 500’s loss of 2.36%.
The investment community will be paying close attention to the earnings performance of Walmart in its upcoming release. The company is slated to reveal its earnings on February 20, 2025. The company is predicted to post an EPS of $0.64, indicating a 6.67% growth compared to the equivalent quarter last year. Meanwhile, the latest consensus estimate predicts the revenue to be $179.28 billion, indicating a 3.4% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year.
Looking at the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $2.47 per share and revenue of $679.45 billion. These totals would mark changes of +11.26% and +4.83%, respectively, from last year.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Walmart. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As a result, upbeat changes in estimates indicate analysts’ favorable outlook on the company’s business health and profitability.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. 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, ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), possesses a remarkable history of outdoing, externally audited, with #1 stocks returning an average annual gain of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection remained stagnant. At present, Walmart boasts a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
From a valuation perspective, Walmart is currently exchanging hands at a Forward P/E ratio of 36.52. This indicates a premium in contrast to its industry’s Forward P/E of 13.73.
We can additionally observe that WMT currently boasts a PEG ratio of 4.29. The PEG ratio is akin to the commonly utilized P/E ratio, but this measure also incorporates the company’s anticipated earnings growth rate. The average PEG ratio for the Retail – Supermarkets industry stood at 2.11 at the close of the market yesterday.
The Retail – Supermarkets industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. At present, this industry carries a Zacks Industry Rank of 153, placing it within the bottom 40% of over 250 industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank evaluates the power of our distinct industry groups by determining the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks forming the groups. 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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