Preview: What to Expect From Walmart’s Earnings Next Week

Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer Walmart is expected to report its fourth-quarter earnings of $1.49 per share, which represents year-over-year growth of over 7% from $1.39 per share seen in the same period a year ago.

The multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets would post revenue growth of nearly 1% to $150.91 billion. The company has beaten consensus earnings estimates in most of the quarters in the last two years, at least.

Walmart stock traded 0.48% higher at $136.73 on Friday. The stock fell more than 5% so far this year after remaining flat in 2021.

Analyst Comments

“Latest AlphaWise data shows Walmart+ membership continues to increase, with ~15m members total (~12% household penetration) & ~1m net members added in the past quarter. Overlap between Walmart+ & Prime remains high; we’ll monitor if this changes with a Prime fee hike coming,” noted Simeon Gutman, equity analyst at Morgan Stanley.

“We expect Walmart (WMT) to sustain recent momentum in its core business in F’22/F’23 and see a growing ability to balance longer-term investments with near-term returns. Our OW rating and $170 PT are underpinned by a preference for 1) quality players with scale and 2) defensive retailers as the market undergoes a mid-cycle transition.”

Walmart Stock Price Forecast

Twenty analysts who offered stock ratings for Walmart in the last three months forecast the average price in 12 months of $166.00 with a high forecast of $196.00 and a low forecast of $136.00.

The average price target represents a 21.22% change from the last price of $136.94. Of those 20 analysts, 13 rated “Buy”, seven rated “Hold”, while none rated “Sell”, according to Tipranks.

Morgan Stanley gave the base target price of $170 with a high of $220 under a bull scenario and $110 under the worst-case scenario. The investment bank gave an “Overweight” rating on the multinational retail corporation’s stock.

Several analysts have also updated their stock outlook. Goldman Sachs cut the target price to $175 from $201. Citigroup lowered the price target to $176 from $179. Truist Securities initiated with a hold rating and set the target price at $153.

Technical analysis suggests it is good to sell as 150-day Moving Average and 100-200-day MACD Oscillator showing a strong selling opportunity.

Check out FX Empire’s earnings calendar