Walmart (WMT) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know

WMT

In the latest trading session, Walmart (WMT - Free Report) closed at $142.69, marking a -0.23% move from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.95% gain on the day.

Coming into today, shares of the world's largest retailer had lost 3.95% in the past month. In that same time, the Retail-Wholesale sector gained 0.55%, while the S&P 500 lost 1.87%.

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 $1.38 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 2.99%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $135.68 billion, up 0.72% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $6.33 per share and revenue of $565.38 billion, which would represent changes of +15.51% and +1.11%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for WMT. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

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.

The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.02% higher. WMT is currently a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Digging into valuation, WMT currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 22.58. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 13.6, which means WMT is trading at a premium to the group.

Also, we should mention that WMT has a PEG ratio of 4.11. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. Retail - Supermarkets stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.2 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Retail - Supermarkets industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 45, which puts it in the top 18% 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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