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

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Walmart (WMT - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $161.54, moving +0.07% from the previous trading session. The stock outperformed the S&P 500, which registered a daily loss of 1.34%. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 0.98%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 1.62%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the world's largest retailer had lost 1.2% over the past month. This has was narrower than the Retail-Wholesale sector's loss of 4.5% and the S&P 500's loss of 1.57% in that time.

Market participants will be closely following the financial results of Walmart in its upcoming release. The company plans to announce its earnings on November 16, 2023. In that report, analysts expect Walmart to post earnings of $1.50 per share. This would mark no growth from the year-ago period. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $158.85 billion, up 3.95% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates project earnings of $6.43 per share and a revenue of $641.65 billion, demonstrating changes of +2.23% and +4.97%, respectively, from the preceding year.

Investors should also pay attention to any latest changes in analyst estimates for Walmart. These latest adjustments often mirror the shifting dynamics of short-term business patterns. Therefore, positive revisions in estimates convey analysts' confidence in the company's business performance and profit potential.

Empirical research indicates that these revisions in estimates have a direct correlation with impending stock price performance. 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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.01% higher. Right now, Walmart possesses a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

From a valuation perspective, Walmart is currently exchanging hands at a Forward P/E ratio of 25.09. This denotes a premium relative to the industry's average Forward P/E of 11.74.

It's also important to note that WMT currently trades at a PEG ratio of 3.81. The PEG ratio bears resemblance to the frequently used P/E ratio, but this parameter also includes the company's expected earnings growth trajectory. WMT's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.2 as of yesterday's close.

The Retail - Supermarkets industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. With its current Zacks Industry Rank of 182, this industry ranks in the bottom 28% of all industries, numbering over 250.

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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