Is Walmart Stock a Good Investment?

Walmart Investment Advice

  WMT
To provide specific investment advice or recommendations on Walmart stock, we recommend investors consider the following general factors when evaluating Walmart. This will help you to make an informed decision on whether to include Walmart in one of your diversified portfolios:
  • Examine Walmart's financial health by looking at its balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow statement. Analyze key financial ratios, such as Price-to-Earnings (P/E), Price-to-Sales (P/S), and Price-to-Book (P/B), to determine whether the stock is fairly valued or over/undervalued.
  • Research Walmart's leadership team and their track record. Good management can help Walmart navigate difficult times and make strategic decisions that benefit shareholders and increases its net worth.
  • Consider the overall health of the Consumer Staples Distribution & Retail space and any emerging trends that could impact Walmart's business and its evolving consumer preferences.
  • Compare Walmart's performance and market position to its competitors. Analyze how Walmart is positioned in terms of product offerings, innovation, and market share.
  • Check if Walmart pays a dividend and its dividend yield and payout ratio.
  • Review what financial analysts are saying about Walmart's stock and their price targets. However, remember that analysts' opinions can vary, and their predictions may not always be accurate.
It's important to note that investing in Walmart stock, carries risks, and you should carefully consider your investment goals and risk tolerance before making any investment decisions. Also, remember that it's important for investors to have a long-term perspective and a well-diversified portfolio to manage the impact of stock market volatility on their investments. Below is a detailed guide on how to decide if Walmart is a good investment.
 
Sell
 
Buy
Buy
Macroaxis provides unbiased trade advice on Walmart that should be used to complement current analysts and expert consensus on Walmart. Our recommendation engine determines the company's potential to grow exclusively from the perspective of an investors' current risk tolerance and investing horizon. To make sure Walmart is not overpriced, please check out all Walmart fundamentals, including its revenue, earnings per share, five year return, as well as the relationship between the total debt and total asset . Given that Walmart has a price to earning of 47.07 X, we strongly advise you to confirm Walmart market performance and probability of bankruptcy to ensure the company can sustain itself in the current economic cycle given your prevalent risk tolerance and investing horizon.

Market Performance

GoodDetails

Volatility

Very steadyDetails

Hype Condition

Under hypedDetails

Current Valuation

UndervaluedDetails

Odds Of Distress

Very LowDetails

Economic Sensitivity

Slowly supersedes the marketDetails

Investor Sentiment

AlarmedDetails

Analyst Consensus

Strong BuyDetails

Financial Strenth (F Score)

HealthyDetails

Financial Leverage

Not RatedDetails

Reporting Quality (M-Score)

Unlikely ManipulatorDetails

Examine Walmart Stock

Researching Walmart's stock involves analyzing various aspects of the company and its industry to make an informed investment decision. The key areas to focus on are fundamentals, business model and competitive advantage. It is also important to analyze trends in revenue, net income, and cash flow, as well as key financial ratios, such as price-to-earnings (P/E), price-to-sales (P/S), and debt-to-equity (D/E). About 46.0% of the company outstanding shares are owned by insiders. The company has Price/Earnings To Growth (PEG) ratio of 2.44. Walmart last dividend was issued on the 15th of August 2024. The entity had 3:1 split on the 26th of February 2024.
To determine if Walmart is a good investment, evaluating the company's potential for future growth is also very important. This may include expanding into new markets, launching new products or services, or improving operational efficiency. Companies with strong growth prospects can be more attractive investments. This aspect of the research should be conducted in the context of the overall market and industry in which the company operates and should include an analysis of growth potential, competitive landscape, and any regulatory or economic factors that could impact the business. Some of the essential points regarding Walmart's research are outlined below:
Walmart has 60.44 B in debt with debt to equity (D/E) ratio of 0.81, which is OK given its current industry classification. Walmart has a current ratio of 0.85, suggesting that it has not enough short term capital to pay financial commitments when the payables are due. Note however, debt could still be an excellent tool for Walmart to invest in growth at high rates of return.
About 46.0% of Walmart outstanding shares are owned by insiders
Latest headline from finance.yahoo.com: Humana concept to lease closed Walmart Health locations in Orlando, beyond

Walmart Quarterly Accounts Payable

56.07 Billion

Walmart uses earnings reports to provide investors with an update of all three financial statements, including the income statement, the balance sheet, and the cash flow statement. Therefore, it is also crucial when considering investing in Walmart. Every quarterly earnings report provides investors with an overview of sales, expenses, and net income for the most recent period. It also may provide a comparison to Walmart's previous reporting period. The quarterly earnings reports are usually disseminated to the public via Form 10-Q, which is a legal document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission every quarter.
20th of February 2024
Upcoming Quarterly Report
View
16th of May 2024
Next Financial Report
View
31st of January 2024
Next Fiscal Quarter End
View
20th of February 2024
Next Fiscal Year End
View
31st of October 2023
Last Quarter Report
View
31st of January 2023
Last Financial Announcement
View
Earnings surprises can significantly impact Walmart's stock price both in the short term and over time. Negative earnings surprises usually result in a price decline. However, it has been seen that positive earnings surprises lead to an immediate rise in a stock's price and a gradual increase over time. This is why we often hear news about some companies beating earning projections. Financial analysts spend a large amount of time predicting earnings per share (EPS) along with other important future indicators. Many analysts use forecasting models, management guidance, and additional fundamental information to derive an EPS estimate. Below are the table of largest EPS Surprises Walmart's investors have experienced.
Reported
Fiscal Date
Estimated EPS
Reported EPS
Surprise
1998-05-12
1998-04-300.170.190.0211 
1999-08-10
1999-07-310.280.310.0310 
1999-05-11
1999-04-300.220.250.0313 
2024-05-16
2024-04-300.520.60.0815 
2016-05-19
2016-04-300.880.980.111 
2019-05-16
2019-04-301.021.130.1110 
2023-05-18
2023-04-301.321.470.1511 
2020-11-17
2020-10-311.181.340.1613 

Walmart Target Price Consensus

We track the performance of the top 100 financial experts across various large and mid-size financial boutiques. Walmart target price is determined by taking all analyst projections and averaging them out. There is no one specific way to measure analysts' performance other than comparing it to past results via a very sophisticated attribution analysis. Walmart's target price projections below should be used in combination with other traditional price prediction techniques such as stock price forecasting, investor sentiment analysis, technical analysis, earnings estimate, and various momentum models.
   40  Strong Buy
Most Walmart analysts issue ratings four times a year, at intervals of three months. Ratings are usually accompanied by a target price to help potential investors understand Walmart stock's fair price compared to its market value. Analysts arrive at stock ratings after researching the public financial statements of Walmart, talking to its executives and customers, or listening to those companies' conference calls.
Macroaxis Advice   Exposure   Valuation

Walmart Target Price Projection

Walmart's current and average target prices are 69.78 and 70.23, respectively. The current price of Walmart is the price at which Walmart is currently trading. On the other hand, Walmart's target price is what analysts think the stock is worth or could sell for in the future. The more significant the discrepancy between the two prices, the more it stimulates investors to act.

Current Price

Walmart Market Quote on 26th of July 2024

Low Price68.83Odds
High Price70.24Odds

69.78

Target Price

Analyst Consensus On Walmart Target Price

Low Estimate63.91Odds
High Estimate77.96Odds

70.23

Historical Lowest Forecast  63.91 Target Price  70.23 Highest Forecast  77.96
Note that most analysts generally publish their price targets in research reports on specific companies, along with recommendations for the company's stock.Although price targets are often quoted in the financial news media, there could be a delay between the publication of the latest analyst outlook on Walmart and the information provided on this page.

Walmart Analyst Ratings

Walmart's analyst stock recommendations are determined by taking an average estimate of all analysts we track and classifying them as Strong Buy, Buy, Hold, Strong Sell, or Sell. Ratings generally communicate what analysts sense about Walmart stock, and they use a lot of effort and time to analyze it and arrive at a rating. That suggests that analyst recommendations are the outcome of an objective and thorough examination of Walmart's financials, market performance, and future outlook by experienced professionals. Walmart's historical ratings below, therefore, can serve as a valuable tool for investors.

Know Walmart's Top Institutional Investors

Have you ever been surprised when a price of an equity instrument such as Walmart is soaring high without any particular reason? This is usually happening because many institutional investors are aggressively trading Walmart backward and forwards among themselves. Walmart's institutional investor refers to the entity that pools money to purchase Walmart's securities or originate loans. Institutional investors include commercial and private banks, credit unions, insurance companies, pension funds, hedge funds, endowments, and mutual funds. Operating companies that invest excess capital in these types of assets may also be included in the term and may influence corporate governance by exercising voting rights in their investments.
Shares
Jpmorgan Chase & Co2024-03-31
38 M
Franklin Resources Inc2024-03-31
37.5 M
Ameriprise Financial Inc2024-03-31
35.4 M
Legal & General Group Plc2024-03-31
35.2 M
Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc2024-03-31
31.8 M
Bank Of New York Mellon Corp2024-03-31
29.2 M
Amvescap Plc.2024-03-31
27.8 M
Wells Fargo & Co2024-03-31
27.3 M
Nuveen Asset Management, Llc2024-03-31
27.2 M
Vanguard Group Inc2024-03-31
411.7 M
Blackrock Inc2024-03-31
293.9 M
Note, although Walmart's institutional investors appear to be way more sophisticated than retail investors, it remains unclear if professional active investment managers can reliably enhance risk-adjusted returns by an amount that exceeds fees and expenses.

Walmart's market capitalization trends

The company currently falls under 'Mega-Cap' category with a total capitalization of 567.87 B.

Market Cap

467.13 Billion

Walmart's profitablity analysis

Last ReportedProjected for Next Year
Return On Tangible Assets 0.07  0.10 
Return On Capital Employed 0.17  0.23 
Return On Assets 0.06  0.09 
Return On Equity 0.18  0.23 
The company has Net Profit Margin of 0.03 %, which implies that it may need a different competitive strategy as even a very small decline in it revenue may erase profits and result in a net loss. This is way below average. In the same way, it shows Net Operating Margin of 0.04 %, which entails that for every 100 dollars of revenue, it generated $0.04 of operating income.
Determining Walmart's profitability involves analyzing its financial statements and using various financial metrics to determine if Walmart is a good buy. For example, gross profit margin measures Walmart's profitability after accounting for the cost of goods sold, while net profit margin measures profitability after accounting for all expenses. Other important metrics include return on assets, return on equity, and free cash flow. By reviewing multiple sources and metrics, you can gain a complete picture of Walmart's profitability and make more informed investment decisions.

Walmart's Earnings Breakdown by Geography

The data published in Walmart's official financial statements typically reflect Walmart's business processes, product offerings, services, and other fundamental events. However, there are additional fundamental indicators that are easier to understand and visualize along the underlying realities that are driving Walmart's quantitative information. For example, before you start analyzing numbers published by Walmart accountants, it's essential to understand Walmart's liquidity, profitability, and earnings quality within the context of the Consumer Staples Distribution & Retail space in which it operates.
Please note, the imprecision that can be found in Walmart's accounting process means that the reasonable investor should take a skeptical approach toward the financial statement analysis of Walmart. Check Walmart's Beneish M Score to see the likelihood of Walmart's management manipulating its earnings.

Evaluate Walmart's management efficiency

Walmart has Return on Asset of 0.0692 % which means that on every $100 spent on assets, it made $0.0692 of profit. This is way below average. In the same way, it shows a return on shareholders' equity (ROE) of 0.2346 %, implying that it generated $0.2346 on every 100 dollars invested. Walmart's management efficiency ratios could be used to measure how well Walmart manages its routine affairs as well as how well it operates its assets and liabilities. Return On Tangible Assets is likely to gain to 0.1 in 2024. Return On Capital Employed is likely to gain to 0.23 in 2024. At this time, Walmart's Total Current Liabilities is comparatively stable compared to the past year. Non Current Liabilities Other is likely to gain to about 15.4 B in 2024, whereas Liabilities And Stockholders Equity is likely to drop slightly above 132.1 B in 2024.
Last ReportedProjected for Next Year
Book Value Per Share 10.38  10.90 
Tangible Book Value Per Share 7.23  7.59 
Enterprise Value Over EBITDA 12.77  14.31 
Price Book Value Ratio 5.30  5.57 
Enterprise Value Multiple 12.77  14.31 
Price Fair Value 5.30  5.57 
Enterprise Value496.3 B521.2 B
The analysis of Walmart's management efficiency is an essential part of evaluating and assessing the financial and operational performance of the entity. It is also vital to analyze Walmart's future growth prospects and the overall market conditions to determine the value and potential of its stock. The analysis involves studying a range of financial metrics such as revenue, earnings, profit margins, cash flow, debt, market share, and external factors such as economic trends, industry outlook, competition, and government regulations. The goal of Walmart Stock analysis is to determine whether it is undervalued, fairly valued, or overvalued and to make informed investment decisions.
Dividend Yield
0.0118
Forward Dividend Yield
0.0118
Forward Dividend Rate
0.83
Beta
0.501

Basic technical analysis of Walmart Stock

As of the 26th of July, Walmart maintains the Downside Deviation of 0.851, mean deviation of 0.7943, and Market Risk Adjusted Performance of 0.5379. Relative to fundamental indicators, the technical analysis model lets you check existing technical drivers of Walmart, as well as the relationship between them.

Walmart's insider trading activities

Some recent studies suggest that insider trading raises the cost of capital for securities issuers and decreases overall economic growth. Trading by specific Walmart insiders, such as employees or executives, is commonly permitted as long as it does not rely on Walmart's material information that is not in the public domain. Local jurisdictions usually require such trading to be reported in order to monitor insider transactions. In many U.S. states, trading conducted by corporate officers, key employees, directors, or significant shareholders must be reported to the regulator or publicly disclosed, usually within a few business days of the trade. In these cases Walmart insiders are required to file a Form 4 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) when buying or selling shares of their own companies.

Walmart's Outstanding Corporate Bonds

Walmart issues bonds to finance its operations. Corporate bonds make up one of the largest components of the U.S. bond market, which is considered the world's largest securities market. Walmart uses the proceeds from bond sales for a wide variety of purposes, including financing ongoing mergers and acquisitions, buying new equipment, investing in research and development, buying back their own stock, paying dividends to shareholders, and even refinancing existing debt. Most Walmart bonds can be classified according to their maturity, which is the date when Walmart has to pay back the principal to investors. Maturities can be short-term, medium-term, or long-term (more than ten years). Longer-term bonds usually offer higher interest rates but may entail additional risks.

Understand Walmart's technical and predictive indicators

Using predictive indicators to make investment decisions involves analyzing Walmart's various financial and market-based factors to help forecast future trends and identify investment opportunities. Select the indicators that are most relevant to your investment strategy. Each indicator has its own strengths and weaknesses, so it's essential to combine multiple indicators to get a more comprehensive view of the market and reduce the risk of making poor decisions based on limited data.

Consider Walmart's intraday indicators

Walmart intraday indicators are useful technical analysis tools used by many experienced traders. Just like the conventional technical analysis, daily indicators help intraday investors to analyze the price movement with the timing of Walmart stock daily movement. By combining multiple daily indicators into a single trading strategy, you can limit your risk while still earning strong returns on your managed positions.

Walmart Corporate Filings

F4
19th of July 2024
The report filed by a party regarding the acquisition or disposition of a company's common stock, as well as derivative securities such as options, warrants, and convertible securities
ViewVerify
25th of June 2024
Other Reports
ViewVerify
3rd of June 2024
Other Reports
ViewVerify
8K
16th of May 2024
Report filed with the SEC to announce major events that shareholders should know about
ViewVerify
Walmart time-series forecasting models is one of many Walmart's stock analysis techniques aimed to predict future share value based on previously observed values. Time-series forecasting models ae widely used for non-stationary data. Non-stationary data are called the data whose statistical properties e.g. the mean and standard deviation are not constant over time but instead, these metrics vary over time. These non-stationary Walmart's historical data is usually called time-series. Some empirical experimentation suggests that the statistical forecasting models outperform the models based exclusively on fundamental analysis to predict the direction of the market movement and maximize returns from investment trading.

Walmart Stock media impact

Far too much social signal, news, headlines, and media speculation about Walmart that are available to investors today. That information is available publicly through Walmart media outlets and privately through word of mouth or via Walmart internal channels. However, regardless of the origin, that massive amount of Walmart data is challenging to quantify into actionable patterns, especially for investors that are not very sophisticated with ever-evolving tools and techniques used in the investment management field.
A primary focus of Walmart news analysis is to determine if its current price reflects all relevant headlines and social signals impacting the current market conditions. A news analyst typically looks at the history of Walmart relative headlines and hype rather than examining external drivers such as technical or fundamental data. It is believed that price action tends to repeat itself due to investors' collective, patterned thinking related to Walmart's headlines and news coverage data. This data is often completely overlooked or insufficiently analyzed for actionable insights to drive Walmart alpha.

Walmart Sentiment by Major News Outlets

Investor sentiment, mood or attitude towards Walmart can have a significant impact on its stock price or the market as a whole. This sentiment can be positive or negative, and various factors, such as economic indicators, news events, or market trends, can influence it. When investor sentiment is positive, investors are more likely to buy stocks, increasing demand and increasing the stock price. Positive investor sentiment can be driven by good news about the company or the broader market, such as solid earnings reports or positive economic data.
Note that negative investor sentiment can cause investors to sell stocks, leading to a decrease in demand and a drop in the stock price. Negative sentiment can be driven by factors such as poor earnings reports, negative news about the company or industry, or broader economic concerns. It's important to note that investor sentiment is just one of many factors that can affect stock prices. Other factors, such as company performance, industry trends, and global economic conditions, can also play a significant role in determining the value of a stock.

Walmart Historical Investor Sentiment

Investor biases related to Walmart's public news can be used to forecast risks associated with an investment in Walmart. The trend in average sentiment can be used to explain how an investor holding Walmart can time the market purely based on public headlines and social activities around Walmart. Please note that most equities that are difficult to arbitrage are affected by market sentiment the most.
Walmart's market sentiment shows the aggregated news analyzed to detect positive and negative mentions from the text and comments. The data is normalized to provide daily scores for Walmart and other traded tickers. The bigger the bubble, the more accurate the estimated score. Higher bars for a given day show more participation in the average Walmart news discussions. The higher the estimate score, the more favorable the investor's outlook on Walmart.

Walmart Maximum Pain Price across 2024-07-26 Option Contracts

Walmart's options can also be used to analyze investors' bias and current market sentiment in the context of behavioral finance. For example, Max pain usually refers to a trading concept that asserts that market manipulation can cause the market price of Walmart close to the expiration of its current option contract to expire worthlessly. According to most research, about 35% of options are not executed, with roughly 50% traded out before expiration. So, Max pain occurs when market makers reach a net favorable position across all options at a strike price where option holders stand to lose the most money. By contrast, option sellers may reap the most after selling more options than buying, causing them to expire worthlessly. Please continue to view the detailed analysis of Walmart's options.

Walmart Corporate Directors

Sarah FriarIndependent DirectorProfile
Randall StephensonIndependent DirectorProfile
Steven ReinemundIndependent DirectorProfile
Cesar CondeIndependent DirectorProfile

Already Invested in Walmart?

The danger of trading Walmart is mainly related to its market volatility and Company specific events. As an investor, you must understand the concept of risk-adjusted return before you start trading. The most common way to measure the risk of Walmart is by using the Sharpe ratio. The ratio expresses how much excess return you acquire for the extra volatility you endure for holding a more risker asset than Walmart. The Sharpe ratio is calculated by using standard deviation and excess return to determine reward per unit of risk. To understand how volatile Walmart is, you must compare it to a benchmark. Traditionally, the risk-free rate of return is the rate of return on the shortest-dated U.S. Treasury, such as a 3-year bond.

Additional Tools for Walmart Stock Analysis

When running Walmart's price analysis, check to measure Walmart's market volatility, profitability, liquidity, solvency, efficiency, growth potential, financial leverage, and other vital indicators. We have many different tools that can be utilized to determine how healthy Walmart is operating at the current time. Most of Walmart's value examination focuses on studying past and present price action to predict the probability of Walmart's future price movements. You can analyze the entity against its peers and the financial market as a whole to determine factors that move Walmart's price. Additionally, you may evaluate how the addition of Walmart to your portfolios can decrease your overall portfolio volatility.