Walmart stock: buy or sell?
Updated on:
September 20th, 2019
5
Walmart Inc. operates retail stores in various formats worldwide. It operates through three segments: Walmart U.S., Walmart International, and Sam's Club.
Should I buy Walmart stock?
Make a decision about when to buy or sell stocks is one of the hardest parts of being a trader or investor. Following a trading strategy helps to make decisions easier, quicker and with less hesitations. There are thousands of trading strategies for you to choose, but at Stocks2.com we prefer those that are simple but successful.Currently, Walmart stock doesn't match any of these trading strategies, so our recommendation is not to buy.
| Buy setup | Elegible |
|---|---|
| New all-time high | No |
| New 52 week high | No |
| Price crossing up 200d MA | No |
| 100d MA crossing up 200d MA | No |
Is Walmart stock a buy?
Everyday, hundreds of stock ratings are posted by financial analysts to indicate a particular stock's attractiveness.
At Stocks2.com, we detected 15 ratings published for WMT stock in the last month. The general sentiment of these ratings is bullish for WMT stock, with 12 positive ratings.| Date | Analyst / Broker | Previous rating | Current rating |
| 2019-9-5 | Morgan Stanley | n/a | Overweight |
| 2019-9-18 | Citigroup | n/a | Buy |
| 2019-8-16 | Telsey Advisory Group | Outperform | Outperform |
| 2019-8-16 | Raymond James | n/a | Outperform |
| 2019-8-16 | KeyCorp | n/a | Overweight |
| 2019-8-16 | JPMorgan Chase & Co. | n/a | Neutral |
| 2019-8-16 | BMO Capital Markets | n/a | Outperform |
| 2019-8-16 | Bank of America | Buy | Buy |
| 2019-8-15 | Robert W. Baird | Outperform | Positive |
| 2019-8-15 | Guggenheim | n/a | Buy |
| 2019-8-15 | Gordon Haskett | Accumulate | Buy |
| 2019-8-15 | Goldman Sachs Group | n/a | Buy |
| 2019-7-23 | Loop Capital | n/a | Hold |
| 2019-7-11 | Goldman Sachs Group | n/a | Buy |
| 2019-7-11 | Goldman Sachs Group | Buy | Buy |
Walmart stock analysis
Daily outlook
The retail corporation stayed stable -0.11% to $116.98 after topping to all time highs on September/13.
After topping to all time highs on September/13, the American multinational stayed constant -0.11% today to $116.98. On Sep/13, WMT hit new all time highs, pushing higher previous ATH of $117.96 recorded on September/5. New ATHs are usual entry points for many trading setups as there aren't higher resistences. For the last 36 days when WMT stock price broke up the SMA50d line, it gained $10.78 (10.15%).
Weekly outlook
The American multinational shares stayed steady -0.38% this week, ending at $116.98. By mid August WMT climbed a superb 5.05% in just one week.
Walmart stock is trading in the range of its last top and last bottom. Loosing would mean breaking the current uptrend. Breakdowns under last bottom are selling point signals for some trading strategies. Not so far away is the last price record the American multinational marked last week. Late December 2018 WMT price bounced up over the SMA of 40 weeks that acted as support stopping new slides. By mid October 2018, SMA20w and SMA40w crossed up triggering a rise of 26.00%.
Walmart stock price history
Walmart stock historical price chart
WMT stock reached all-time highs on September/13 with a price of $118.19.
Walmart stock price target is $124.10
Predicting the price evolution of a stock or any financial instrument in a reliable and repeatable way is probably impossible. However, financial institutions invest time and resources to provide the most accurated estimations to help investors to make their decisions. You should not follow the analysts' WMT stock price predictions in the hope that they will be met as they may be wrong and not met. We detected 15 price targets for WMT stock posted in the last month:| Date | Analyst / Broker | Action | Previous target | Current target | Diff |
| 2019-9-5 | Morgan Stanley | Raises Target | $115.00 | $125.00 | 8.7% |
| 2019-9-18 | Citigroup | Reiterates | $129.00 | $135.00 | 4.7% |
| 2019-8-16 | Telsey Advisory Group | Reiterates | $118.00 | $125.00 | 5.9% |
| 2019-8-16 | Raymond James | Raises Target | $110.00 | $120.00 | 9.1% |
| 2019-8-16 | KeyCorp | Raises Target | $125.00 | $128.00 | 2.4% |
| 2019-8-16 | JPMorgan Chase & Co. | Set Price Target | n/a | $115.00 | - |
| 2019-8-16 | BMO Capital Markets | Raises Target | n/a | $125.00 | - |
| 2019-8-16 | Bank of America | Raises Target | $120.00 | $135.00 | 12.5% |
| 2019-8-15 | Robert W. Baird | Reiterates | $115.00 | $120.00 | 4.3% |
| 2019-8-15 | Guggenheim | Reiterates | n/a | $125.00 | - |
| 2019-8-15 | Gordon Haskett | Upgrades | $115.00 | $125.00 | 8.7% |
| 2019-8-15 | Goldman Sachs Group | Set Price Target | n/a | $123.00 | - |
| 2019-7-23 | Loop Capital | Raises Target | n/a | $115.00 | - |
| 2019-7-11 | Goldman Sachs Group | Set Price Target | n/a | $123.00 | - |
| 2019-7-11 | Goldman Sachs Group | Initiates | n/a | $123.00 | - |
| (in average) | $118.40 | $124.10 | 5.0% |
Financials and fundamental analysis
Earnings date and Earnings per Share
The retail corporation presented slightly good results for 2019-Q1 on February. Walmart stepped up Earnings per Share (EPS) by 6.00%, beating analysts consensus of $1.33. Walmart posted $1.41.| Quarter | Reporting date | Estimated EPS | Actual EPS | Surprise |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-Q2 | - | n/a | 1 | n/a |
| 2017-Q3 | - | n/a | 1.14 | n/a |
| 2017-Q4 | 2017-11-16 | 0.97 | 1 | 3.1% |
| 2018-Q1 | 2018-02-20 | 1.36 | 1.33 | -2.2% |
| 2018-Q2 | 2018-05-17 | 1.12 | 1.14 | 1.8% |
| 2018-Q3 | 2018-08-16 | 1.21 | 1.29 | 6.6% |
| 2018-Q4 | 2018-11-15 | 1.02 | 1.08 | 5.9% |
| 2019-Q1 | 2019-02-19 | 1.33 | 1.41 | 6.0% |
| 2019-Q2 | - | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| 2019-Q3 | - | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Annual financial results
Compared to 2018, last anual revenues report draw a tiny growth of 2.81% to $514,405.00 M USD. When comparing 2019 vs 2018, instead, profit margin (that is, the net income divided by revenues) remained constant a -0.67% to 1.30%.| Year | Sales | YoY | Income/(margin) | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | $476,290 M | - | $15,920 M3.3% | - |
| 2014 | $485,650 M | 1.97% | $16,180 M3.3% | 1.63% |
| 2015 | $485,651 M | 0.00% | $16,363 M3.4% | 1.13% |
| 2015 | $482,130 M | -0.73% | $14,690 M3.0% | -10.22% |
| 2016 | $482,130 M | 0.00% | $14,694 M3.0% | 0.03% |
| 2016 | $485,140 M | 0.62% | $13,640 M2.8% | -7.17% |
| 2017 | $485,873 M | 0.15% | $13,643 M2.8% | 0.02% |
| 2017 | $500,340 M | 2.98% | $9,860 M2.0% | -27.73% |
| 2018 | $500,343 M | 0.00% | $9,862 M2.0% | 0.02% |
| 2019 | $514,405 M | 2.81% | $6,670 M1.3% | -32.37% |
Quarterly financial results
Walmart reported $138,793.00 million in revenues for 2019-Q1, a 11.13% up compared to previous quarter. Reported quarter earnings marked $3,687.00 M with a profit margin of 2.66%. Profit margin grew a 1.29% compared to previous quarter when profit margin was 1.37%. When comparing revenues to same quarter last year, Walmart sales marked a tiny increase and appreciated a 1.85%.| Quarter | Sales1 | QoQ2 | Income1/(margin) | QoQ2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-Q2 | $117,540 M | - | $3,040 M2.6% | - |
| 2017-Q3 | $123,360 M | 4.95% | $2,900 M2.4% | -4.61% |
| 2017-Q4 | $123,179 M | -0.15% | $1,749 M1.4% | -39.69% |
| 2018-Q1 | $136,267 M | 10.63% | $2,175 M1.6% | 24.36% |
| 2018-Q2 | $122,690 M | -9.96% | $2,134 M1.7% | -1.89% |
| 2018-Q3 | $128,028 M | 4.35% | $-861 M-0.7% | -140.35% |
| 2018-Q4 | $124,894 M | -2.45% | $1,710 M1.4% | -298.61% |
| 2019-Q1 | $138,793 M | 11.13% | $3,687 M2.7% | 115.61% |
Walmart ownership
When you are planning to buy shares of a company, it's worth to review its ownership structure.Management staff in all public traded companies that hold equity is required to report every transaction to the SEC. For Walmart, 52.02% of all outstanding shares are owned by its staff.
In case of Walmart stock, 30.32% of its shares are held by institutions (mutual funds, pension funds, big banks and other large financial institutions). Bearish positions for WMT stock account 0.00%, no big difference from last month.
The following table compares ownership indicators for other stocks related to Walmart:
| WMT | AMZN | COST | DG | DLTR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Market cap | $333.4 B | $901.0 B | $125.9 B | $40.3 B | $26.3 B |
| Total shares | 2,850.0 M | 494.7 M | 439.8 M | 257.1 M | 236.6 M |
| Float shares | 1,400.0 M | 416.2 M | 432.9 M | 243.1 M | 233.0 M |
| - Institutional holdings (%) | 30.3% | 57.1% | 73.5% | 104.6% | 96.6% |
| - Insider holdings (%) | 52.0% | 16.1% | 0.5% | 0.1% | 2.8% |
| Shares in short selling | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
Walmart summary
| Friday, September 20th, 2019 | |
|---|---|
| Open | $117.35 |
| Close | $116.98 |
| Day range | $116.80 - $117.64 |
| Previous close | $117.11 |
| Session gain | -0.11% |
| Average true range | $1.50 |
| 50d mov avg | $112.55 |
| 100d mov avg | $108.92 |
| 200d mov avg | $102.30 |
| Daily pattern | |
| Weekly pattern | lt06a |
Walmart performance
To measure stock performance is always good to compare with competitors or related stocks. For Walmart, the comparison is made against Amazon.com, Costco Wholesale, Dollar General, Dollar Tree, eBay, J.C. Penney, Kohl's, Macy's and Target.| Stock | 3m | 6m | 12m |
|---|---|---|---|
| WMTWalmart | 5.78% | 20.25% | 24.57% |
| AMZNAmazon.com | -4.70% | 3.21% | -4.88% |
| COSTCostco Wholesale | 7.84% | 21.13% | 23.20% |
| DGDollar General | 13.25% | 34.14% | 46.36% |
| DLTRDollar Tree | -1.00% | 9.50% | 30.56% |
| EBAYeBay | 1.13% | 10.94% | 19.90% |
| JCPJ.C. Penney | -32.50% | -46.71% | -59.90% |
| KSSKohl's | 4.07% | -25.21% | -32.64% |
| MMacy's | -27.99% | -29.85% | -52.91% |
| TGTTarget | 24.09% | 40.04% | 27.78% |
Walmart competitors
We selected a few stocks to conform a list of Walmart competitors to check if you are interested in investing in WMT:- Amazon.com (AMZN)
- Costco Wholesale (COST)
- Dollar General (DG)
- Dollar Tree (DLTR)
- eBay (EBAY)
- J.C. Penney (JCP)
- Kohl's (KSS)
- Macy's (M)
- Target (TGT)
Latest Walmart stock news
- InvestorPlaceBuy Walmart Stock for a Pre-Earnings RallyAugust 1, 2019
- InvestorPlaceBe Prepared for a Pullback In Walmart StockJuly 26, 2019
- InvestorPlaceImprovements Do Not Justify the Higher Multiple in Walmart StockJuly 24, 2019
- InvestorPlaceWhy it Might Be Worthwhile to Consider Walmart StockJuly 23, 2019
- InvestorPlaceThe 3 Big Reasons to Stick With Walmart Stock in 2019July 18, 2019