Topic: How To Invest

Wall Street Stock Forecaster Hotline – Friday, August 20, 2021

Article Excerpt

WALMART INC., $151.45, New York symbol WMT, is your #1 Conservative Buy for 2021. The company is the world’s biggest retailer, with 10,524 outlets in 24 countries. So far, the spread of the Delta variant of COVID-19 has had little impact on Walmart’s customer traffic. Volumes at the company’s online operations also continue to rise. In the fiscal 2022 second quarter, ended July 31, 2021, sales rose 2.4%, to $141.05 billion from $137.42 billion a year earlier. That beat the consensus forecast of $132.0 billion. Walmart’s U.S. same-store sales (including online) rose 5.2%. The number of transactions rose 6.1% in the quarter, however, spending per visit slipped 0.8%. U.S. online sales also improved 6%. The company recently sold its operations in the U.K. and Japan. Due to losses on those sales, earnings in the quarter fell 34.0%, to $4.28 billion from $6.48 billion. Per-share earnings declined 33.0%, to $1.52 from $2.27, on fewer shares outstanding. If you factor out all unusual items, earnings per share rose…