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

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Walmart Inc. (WMT - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $115.28, moving -0.77% from the previous trading session. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.19%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.31%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.08%.

Heading into today, shares of the company had lost 4.21% over the past month, lagging the Retail-Wholesale sector's gain of 4.08% and the S&P 500's gain of 3.72% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from WMT as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be February 18, 2020. In that report, analysts expect WMT to post earnings of $1.44 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 2.13%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $142.66 billion, up 2.78% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $4.98 per share and revenue of $525.80 billion. These totals would mark changes of +1.43% and +2.21%, respectively, from last year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for WMT should also be noted by investors. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. 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. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.11% higher within the past month. WMT currently has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Digging into valuation, WMT currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 23.31. This represents a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 14.34.

Meanwhile, WMT's PEG ratio is currently 4.7. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. The Retail - Supermarkets industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 2.68 as of yesterday's close.

The Retail - Supermarkets industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 70, which puts it in the top 28% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our 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.

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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