Retail giant Walmart (WMT) is scheduled to announce its Q1 FY27 earnings results tomorrow, May 21. The stock recently hit a record high of $135.16 on May 19 and is now up 21% year-to-date, helped by steady grocery demand, strong e-commerce growth, and rising advertising revenue. Wall Street analysts expect Walmart to report earnings of $0.66 per share, up more than 8% from a year ago. Revenue is projected to come in at around $174.84 billion, reflecting year-over-year growth of over 6%.
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Analysts’ Views Ahead of WMT’s Q1 Earnings
Heading into Q1 earnings, Piper Sandler analyst Peter Keith raised his price target on Walmart stock to $137 from $130 while keeping an Overweight rating. The analyst said consumer spending has remained steady despite concerns that higher gas prices could hurt discretionary spending.
Keith also noted that while tax refunds were strong during the first quarter, there was little sign of a major boost in retail spending, suggesting many middle- and upper-income households chose to save the extra cash instead.
Likewise, four-star-rated analyst Zhihan Ma at Bernstein also increased his price target for WMT to $145 from $134 and kept his Buy rating. Ma expects retailers serving higher-income shoppers to benefit from stimulus measures under the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” However, Ma also warned that higher fuel costs, inflation, and lower government support payments could still pressure consumer spending and affect results for some retailers.
Here’s What Options Traders Expect
Using TipRanks’ Options tool, we can see what options traders are expecting from the stock immediately after its earnings report. The expected earnings move is determined by calculating the at-the-money straddle of the options closest to expiration after the earnings announcement. If this sounds complicated, don’t worry, the Options tool does this for you.
According to TipRanks’ Options Tool, options traders expect about a 4.78% move in either direction in Walmart stock in reaction to Q1 FY27 earnings.
Is Walmart Stock Still a Buy?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Strong Buy consensus rating on Walmart stock based on 26 Buys and one Hold assigned in the past three months. Furthermore, the average 12-month Walmart price target of $141.39 per share implies 5.36% upside potential.
