Wal-Mart Up on Expectations of Solid Sales Increase by 2019

AMZN AAPL XOM WMT

Shares of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT - Free Report) rose 0.25% on Jun 16 after the CEO of the retail giant said that the company expects to increase sales by up to $60 billion by 2019.

According to Reuters, the company notified through a presentation at the conference that its sales are expected to increase by $45 billion to $60 billion by 2019, which signals that the company is on a growth spree.

We note that in fiscal 2016, the retail giant reported $482.13 billion in total revenue. In the past five years, revenues have increased by about $60 billion, according to the company's annual report.

Then recently, Wal-Mart topped the ‘Fortune 500’ annual rankings list (based on total revenues) for the fourth consecutive year. Wal-Mart was followed by Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM - Free Report) , Apple Inc. (AAPL - Free Report) , Berkshire Hathaway Inc., McKesson, UnitedHealth Group, CVS Health, General Motors, Ford Motor and AT&T.

Fortune has been ranking the companies based on their revenues for the last 62 years. The companies on this list represent about two-thirds of U.S. GDP and employ 27.9 million people.

Not only that, this Bentonville, AR-based company also started fiscal 2017 on a positive note with both earnings and revenues beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Revenues also increased owing to improved comps but earnings declined year over year. Unfavorable currency and higher investments in wages and e-commerce activities took a toll on the company’s results.

We note that the company is facing severe challenges and has been showing signs of acute weakness since the past few quarters. Increased investments in technology and an increase in pay for its workers are increasing its expense burden. Higher labor costs along with the company’s efforts to overhaul its stores and invest in its online operations in order to compete with Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN - Free Report) will weigh on its earnings in the near term.

However, this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) is making efforts to understand the evolving needs of its customers to regain their confidence, and thus boost sales.

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