Walmart (NASDAQ:WMT) Shares Gap Down – Here’s Why

Walmart Inc. (NASDAQ:WMT) gapped down prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $114.30, but opened at $106.38. Walmart shares last traded at $104.0670, with a volume of 22,416,160 shares traded.

Walmart News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Walmart this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Walmart reported fiscal second-quarter adjusted EPS of $0.81, above the $0.74 consensus estimate, while revenue rose 5.9% year over year to $187.94 billion, exceeding expectations. Walmart Beats Q2 Earnings and Revenue Estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Higher-growth businesses remained strong: global e-commerce sales increased 23%, advertising revenue grew 38% and membership fee revenue rose 17%. Grocery sales also posted mid-single-digit growth as consumers prioritized affordability. Walmart Reports Revenue Growth
• Positive Sentiment: Walmart said it received nearly $2.9 billion in tariff refunds and plans to use part of the benefit to keep prices low, supporting customer traffic and contributing to stronger quarterly operating income. Walmart Says It Will Use Tariff Refunds to Lower Prices
• Neutral Sentiment: Management updated full-year fiscal 2027 guidance to $2.80–$2.87 in adjusted EPS and $734.7 billion–$741.7 billion in revenue. The outlook may represent an increase from prior company guidance, but both ranges remain below Wall Street expectations of approximately $2.89 EPS and $751.8 billion in revenue.
• Negative Sentiment: U.S. comparable sales grew 2.6% in the quarter, well below the 3.7% analyst estimate and the weakest growth in more than six years. The miss raised concerns that consumers are becoming more cautious. Walmart Reports Rare Comparable-Sales Miss
• Negative Sentiment: Third-quarter guidance was particularly disappointing: adjusted EPS of $0.62–$0.64 and revenue of $183.1 billion–$184.5 billion compare with consensus estimates of $0.68 EPS and $188.2 billion in revenue. A shift in Flipkart’s promotional event timing is expected to create a sales-growth headwind of more than 100 basis points.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on WMT. Truist Financial set a $140.00 target price on shares of Walmart in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Weiss Ratings downgraded Walmart from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Walmart from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Tigress Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 target price (up from $150.00) on shares of Walmart in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $137.00 target price (up from $135.00) on shares of Walmart in a report on Monday, May 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have given a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $138.50.

Walmart Stock Down 9.4%

The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $114.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $121.49. The stock has a market cap of $823.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.31 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.23.

Walmart (NASDAQ:WMT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 20th. The retailer reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.07. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.25% and a net margin of 3.13%.The company had revenue of $187.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $186.62 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.68 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Walmart has set its Q3 2027 guidance at 0.620-0.640 EPS and its FY 2027 guidance at 2.800-2.870 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Walmart

In other Walmart news, EVP David W. Guggina sold 11,978 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.82, for a total transaction of $1,435,203.96. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 125,067 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,985,527.94. This represents a 8.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Christopher James Nicholas sold 2,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.19, for a total transaction of $342,751.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 574,953 shares in the company, valued at $67,953,695.07. This trade represents a 0.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 54,164 shares of company stock valued at $6,389,402 over the last three months. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Walmart

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Entrust Financial LLC bought a new stake in Walmart during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Merkkuri Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Walmart in the first quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Walmart by 57.4% during the fourth quarter. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC now owns 288 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Sankala Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Walmart during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Motiv8 Investments LLC bought a new stake in Walmart during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

About Walmart

Walmart is a multinational retail corporation that operates a broad portfolio of store formats and digital services. Its core business includes large-format supercenters, discount department stores, neighborhood grocery stores and a membership warehouse chain, Sam’s Club. The company’s merchandising mix covers groceries, household goods, apparel, electronics and pharmacy services, supplemented by private-label products and category-specific offerings. Walmart pairs its physical store network with online platforms and mobile applications to provide omnichannel shopping, fulfillment and delivery options for consumers and businesses.

The company was founded by Sam Walton, who opened the first store in Rogers, Arkansas in 1962; it is headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas.