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BofA Sticks With Buy on Walmart After Post‑Earnings Pullback

The firm says Walmart’s value pricing and growing e-commerce and ad businesses can counter the roughly $1 billion in new freight and fuel costs.

Overview

  • On Wednesday Bank of America reiterated a Buy rating and cut its price target to $144 while calling the recent post-earnings selloff a buying opportunity with roughly 18.7% upside from the cited price.
  • Walmart raised full-year net‑sales guidance to the high end of its 3.5%–4.5% range after a strong quarter in which revenue rose about 7.3% and global e-commerce grew roughly 26%.
  • Shares fell about 8.1% after the earnings release and were trading in the roughly $118–$121 range as investors reacted to the guidance and cost headlines.
  • Management warned of about $1 billion in incremental freight and fuel expenses for the year, which Bank of America flagged as the main near-term risk while noting Walmart’s prior playbook of absorbing similar headwinds.
  • BofA pointed to rapid marketplace growth, membership, advertising, and fulfillment as durable higher‑margin offsets and left fiscal 2027–2028 EPS forecasts intact even as Street consensus sits near the mid‑$130s.