Walmart Stock Forecast: Trending StrongBuy Among Analysts

Walmart (WMT) stock has risen 5.7% over the past week, 11.2% in the last month, and 28.7% over the past year, reflecting strong investor interest. Wall Street’s analysts are firmly bullish, with a StrongBuy consensus and a 12‑month average price target of $129.04, implying a modest downside from the last close at $131.18.

Analyst Simeon Gutman of Morgan Stanley reiterated his Buy rating on WMT on February 9, 2026, setting a price target of $135, which suggests upside from current levels. He expects modest upside in Walmart’s fourth fiscal quarter 2026 results and believes initial guidance for fiscal 2027 could be prudent rather than aggressive.

Gutman argues that Walmart’s growing e‑commerce flywheel is boosting its earnings outlook, as the company leverages scale and technology to win market share and improve profitability. He notes that valuation remains supported because investors are willing to pay a premium for quality, defensive “winner‑take‑most” compounders like Walmart.

He points out that Walmart’s shares now trade at about 43x next‑twelve‑month earnings, roughly 21 turns above the 10‑year average, and sees limited room for further multiple expansion in the near term. Part of the recent re‑rating, he says, comes from Walmart’s move to a NASDAQ listing and expectations for accelerating earnings momentum in the first half of 2026 on easier comparisons.

On operations, Gutman expects moderate upside versus consensus for the fourth quarter, driven by solid U.S. comparable sales and conservative guidance on margins and EPS. As one of the analysts tracked by TipRanks, Gutman ranks 1,658th out of 12,050, with a 61.29% success rate and an average return of 4.6% per rating, underscoring a solid, if not elite, track record. Never miss a stock rating. Find all the latest ratings on TipRanks’ Top Wall Street Analysts page.