Giant retailer Walmart (WMT) has been working to recover from the hits it took trying to compete with online stores and its own negative image. “People of Walmart,” anyone? But the long road it has taken to recover seems to be working, and as far as Mizuho Securities is concerned, it already has worked. Investors were willing to play along, and gave shares a fractional boost in Monday afternoon’s trading.
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Mizuho, via analyst David Bellinger, noted, “The multi-year rebuild into a much more tech-led player is working, with a focus on speed of delivery and further volume gains ahead.” In fact, Bellinger noted, Walmart was on track to clear $100 billion in annual ecommerce revenues just in the United States. This would put ecommerce as 10% of Walmart’s total annual sales in the United States, and that in turn would make it the second largest online player, with only Amazon (AMZN) ahead of it.
This in turn is opening up significant opportunities for Walmart as a power in not only domestic sales, but also in “…advertising, marketplace, and membership…” opportunities as well.
Chasing the Kids
Meanwhile, Walmart is acutely aware of the impact of tariffs on its operations, especially after the person perhaps most responsible for putting them there, President Trump, demanded Walmart “eat the tariffs” rather than hike prices. Walmart may not have completely followed orders on that one, but there are signs that Walmart is actively courting the younger demographics as it pursues young shoppers.
In fact, reports note, Walmart pulled out a whole new ad campaign designed to haul in the youngsters, along with a tween-focused clothing brand. Walmart even has plans to ramp up its drone deliveries as well, trying to get more shoppers to part with their money in a time when everyone is starting to feel the pinch, and is pulling in their spending accordingly.
Is Walmart Stock a Good Buy Right Now?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Strong Buy consensus rating on WMT stock based on 28 Buys and two Holds assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 45.56% rally in its share price over the past year, the average WMT price target of $109.66 per share implies 12.63% upside potential.
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