Topic: How To Invest

Wall Street Stock Forecaster Hotline – Friday, February 24, 2023

Article Excerpt

WALMART INC., $142.47, New York symbol WMT, is a buy. The company is the world’s biggest retailer, with 10,635 outlets in 24 countries. The discount retailer continues to benefit as rising inflation is drawing more shoppers to its value-focused stores. In the fiscal 2023 fourth quarter, ended January 31, 2023, sales rose 7.3%, to $164.05 billion from $152.87 billion a year earlier. That beat the consensus forecast of $164.00 billion. Walmart’s U.S. same-store sales (including online) rose 8.3%, reflecting higher selling prices (up 6.3%) and a higher number of transactions (up 1.8%). U.S. online sales also improved 17%. If you factor out gains and losses on investments and other unusual items, earnings per share rose 11.8%, to $1.71 from $1.53. That also topped the consensus estimate of $1.51 a share. The retail giant now expects its sales (excluding businesses it recently sold and currency rates) for all of fiscal 2024 will rise between 2.5% and 3.0%. It should also earn between $5.90 and $6.05 a share,…