Walmart (WMT) Dips More Than Broader Markets: What You Should Know

Walmart (WMT) closed at $139.71 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.64% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.53% loss on the day.

Coming into today, shares of the world's largest retailer had gained 8.15% in the past month. In that same time, the Retail-Wholesale sector gained 1.92%, while the S&P 500 gained 5.72%.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from WMT as it approaches its next earnings report date. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.21, up 2.54% from the prior-year quarter. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $131.27 billion, down 2.49% from the year-ago period.

WMT's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $5.42 per share and revenue of $544.67 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of -1.09% and -2.59%, respectively.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for WMT should also be noted by investors. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

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 0.01% higher. WMT currently has a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that WMT has a Forward P/E ratio of 25.94 right now. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 13.13.

It is also worth noting that WMT currently has a PEG ratio of 4.72. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. WMT's industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.15 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 240, which puts it in the bottom 6% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.

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