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Walmart (WMT) Stock Declines While Market Improves: Some Information for Investors

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Walmart (WMT - Free Report) closed the latest trading day at $84.21, indicating a -0.73% change from the previous session's end. The stock's change was less than the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.1%. Meanwhile, the Dow experienced a rise of 0.69%, and the technology-dominated Nasdaq saw an increase of 0.06%.

Shares of the world's largest retailer witnessed a gain of 5.91% over the previous month, beating the performance of the Retail-Wholesale sector with its gain of 5.33% and the S&P 500's gain of 4.37%.

Investors will be eagerly watching for the performance of Walmart in its upcoming earnings disclosure. The company's earnings report is set to be unveiled on November 19, 2024. In that report, analysts expect Walmart to post earnings of $0.53 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 3.92%. Simultaneously, our latest consensus estimate expects the revenue to be $167.5 billion, showing a 4.16% escalation compared to the year-ago quarter.

In terms of the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates predict earnings of $2.44 per share and a revenue of $678.46 billion, indicating changes of +9.91% and +4.68%, respectively, from the former year.

Investors should also pay attention to any latest changes in analyst estimates for Walmart. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. Hence, positive alterations in estimates signify analyst optimism regarding the company's business and profitability.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. To exploit this, we've formed the Zacks Rank, a quantitative model that includes these estimate changes and presents a viable rating system.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.08% higher. Walmart is holding a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) right now.

In terms of valuation, Walmart is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 34.78. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 13.89, so one might conclude that Walmart is trading at a premium comparatively.

Also, we should mention that WMT has a PEG ratio of 4.24. Comparable to the widely accepted P/E ratio, the PEG ratio also accounts for the company's projected earnings growth. By the end of yesterday's trading, the Retail - Supermarkets industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.84.

The Retail - Supermarkets industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. With its current Zacks Industry Rank of 93, this industry ranks in the top 37% of all industries, numbering over 250.

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.

Keep in mind to rely on Zacks.com to watch all these stock-impacting metrics, and more, in the succeeding trading sessions.


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