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Walmart (WMT) Beats Stock Market Upswing: What Investors Need to Know

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In the latest market close, Walmart (WMT - Free Report) reached $163.25, with a +1.39% movement compared to the previous day. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.73%. On the other hand, the Dow registered a gain of 0.62%, and the technology-centric Nasdaq increased by 0.93%.

Coming into today, shares of the world's largest retailer had lost 1.26% in the past month. In that same time, the Retail-Wholesale sector lost 3.41%, while the S&P 500 lost 2.29%.

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. The company is predicted to post an EPS of $1.50, indicating constancy compared to the equivalent quarter last year. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $158.85 billion, up 3.95% from the year-ago period.

For the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $6.43 per share and a revenue of $641.65 billion, representing changes of +2.23% and +4.97%, respectively, from the prior year.

Furthermore, it would be beneficial for investors to monitor any recent shifts in analyst projections for Walmart. These latest adjustments often mirror the shifting dynamics of short-term business patterns. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Our research reveals that these estimate alterations are directly linked with the stock price performance in the near future. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, stretching from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has a noteworthy track record of outperforming, validated by third-party audits, with stocks rated #1 producing an average annual return of +25% since the year 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.01% higher within the past month. At present, Walmart boasts a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Digging into valuation, Walmart currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 25.02. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 11.57.

We can also see that WMT currently has a PEG ratio of 3.8. 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. As of the close of trade yesterday, the Retail - Supermarkets industry held an average PEG ratio of 1.24.

The Retail - Supermarkets industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This industry, currently bearing a Zacks Industry Rank of 192, finds itself in the bottom 24% echelons 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.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.


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