Topic: How To Invest

Wall Street Stock Forecaster Hotline Friday, November 20, 2020

Article Excerpt

WALMART INC., $150.24, New York symbol WMT, remains a buy. The company is the world’s biggest retailer, with 11,484 outlets in 27 countries. Walmart continues to benefit as the COVID-19 pandemic prompts consumers to stock up on food and household goods at its stores and Internet sites. In its fiscal 2021 third quarter, ended October 31, 2020, the company’s sales rose 5.2%, to $134.71 billion from $127.99 billion a year earlier. That beat the consensus forecast of $131.5 billion. In addition to higher in-store sales, U.S. online sales jumped 79%. As a result, Walmart’s U.S. same-store sales (including online) rose 6.4%. Fewer people are coming to Walmart’s stores—the number of transactions fell 14.2% in the quarter. However, spending per visit jumped 24.0%. In response to COVID-19, Walmart is spending more to clean its stores, install plexiglass barriers at its checkouts and increase employee wages. In the latest quarter, those costs totalled $600 million. Despite that additional spending, overall earnings in the quarter still jumped 56.5%, to…