Wal-Mart is expected to see same-store sales at its U.S. stores rise 0.9%, says Ken Perkins, president of Retail Metrics.
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Wal-Mart (WMT – Get Report) shares are down 0.46% to $72.04 in early market trading on Monday, ahead of the release of the company’s second quarter earnings results, due out tomorrow before the opening bell. Zacks upgraded shares of Wal-Mart Stores from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd.
Wal-Mart shares have declined 1.29% in the last 4 weeks and 8.03% in the past three months. The company has a market cap of $233,103 million. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $80.72. Consensus estimates call for earnings per share (EPS) of $1.12 on revenues of $119.77 billion compared with EPS of $1.21 and revenues of $120.12 billion in the second quarter of 2014. The company also forecast a year-over-year increase in same-store sales of 1%. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $72.50 and a 200-day moving average of $78.06.
Wal-Mart’s margins are under pressure with $0.20 of wage increases this year and $0.06-$0.09 of ecommerce investments.
Sam’s Club is seeking to differentiate itself from Walmart, looking to attract higher-income shoppers than its sister company does, The Wall Street Journal is reporting this morning. The highest analyst price target sees the stock at $90. Raymond James raised Wal-Mart Stores from an outperform rating to a strong-buy rating and set a $86.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock.
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Wal-Mart WMT, -0.51% was overtaken as the world’s most valuable retailer last month, after Amazon Inc. The stock now has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $81.11. The Company has a range of goods and services at everyday low prices (NYSE:WMT). The Walmart U.S. segment manages retail stores in all 50 states in the United States, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico, with three main store formats, as well as digital retail. Its Walmart global segment consists of retail operations in 26 countries. The Sam’s Club contains membership- warehouse clubs and runs in Puerto Rico and in 48 states in the USA, as well as digital retail.
