For those looking to find strong Retail-Wholesale stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Walmart (NYSE:WMT) is a stock that can certainly grab the attention of many investors, but do its recent returns compare favorably to the sector as a whole? One simple way to answer this question is to take a look at the year-to-date performance of WMT and the rest of the Retail-Wholesale group's stocks.
Walmart is one of 213 companies in the Retail-Wholesale group. The Retail-Wholesale group currently sits at #2 within the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different groups, measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the sector to gauge the strength of each group.
The Zacks Rank is a proven system that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions, highlighting a variety of stocks that are displaying the right characteristics to beat the market over the next one to three months. WMT is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for WMT's full-year earnings has moved 5.87% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.
According to our latest data, WMT has moved about 2.16% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, the Retail-Wholesale sector has returned an average of -2.43% on a year-to-date basis. As we can see, Walmart is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.
To break things down more, WMT belongs to the Retail - Supermarkets industry, a group that includes 9 individual companies and currently sits at #123 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 5.34% this year, meaning that WMT is slightly underperforming its industry in terms of year-to-date returns.
Investors with an interest in Retail-Wholesale stocks should continue to track WMT. The stock will be looking to continue its solid performance.
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Walmart Inc. (WMT): Free Stock Analysis Report
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