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

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Walmart (WMT - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $140.60, moving -0.09% from the previous trading session. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.07%.

Investors will be hoping for strength from WMT as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be May 18, 2021. In that report, analysts expect WMT to post earnings of $1.21 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 2.54%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $131.27 billion, down 2.49% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $5.42 per share and revenue of $544.7 billion, which would represent changes of -1.09% and -2.58%, respectively, from the prior year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for WMT should also be noted by investors. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business 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 ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.01% higher. WMT is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that WMT has a Forward P/E ratio of 25.96 right now. This represents a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 12.73.

We can also see that WMT currently has a PEG ratio of 4.72. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. The Retail - Supermarkets was holding an average PEG ratio of 2.07 at yesterday's closing price.

The Retail - Supermarkets industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 246, which puts it in the bottom 4% 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.

To follow WMT in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.


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