Dow futures rise; Target earnings, retail sales due

Roth/MKM on Walmart (WMT), 'Right Retailer For Uncertain Times'

Roth/MKM analyst Bill Kirk reiterated a Buy rating and $179.00 price target on Walmart (NYSE: WMT)

The analyst comments "Walmart is nearing an unprecedented inflection: advertising revenue is about to cross advertising expenses (FY'24 ROTH MKMe $3.6bn ad revenue vs. $4.3bn). This highlights the... More

BofA Positive on Walmart (WMT): 'We see cont'd gross margin expansion for WMT in F4Q'

BofA Securities analyst Robert Ohmes reiterated a Buy rating and $190.00 price target on Walmart (NYSE: WMT)

The analyst comments "We see cont'd gross margin expansion for WMT in F4Q as increasing contributions from higher-margin profit streams (digital advertising, 3P marketplace & fulfillment... More

Citi on Walmart (WMT): '3Q results were good'

Citi analyst Paul Lejuez reiterated a Buy rating and $180.00 price target on Walmart (NYSE: WMT).

The analyst comments "WMT 3Q results were good, but not as great as many were hoping for (expectations were high). EPS beat consensus by $0.03 but the... More

KeyBanc on Walmart (WMT): 'Strong Sales Results - Walmart U.S. and Sam’s Comps Beat'

KeyBanc analyst Bradley Thomas reiterated an Overweight rating and $177.00 price target on Walmart (NYSE: WMT)

The analyst comments "Walmart U.S. comps increased 4.9% y/y (or +13.1% on a twoyear stack), above the consensus of +3.4%. U.S. comps growth was driven by 1.5% growth in average ticket and 3.4% growth in transactions (accelerating sequentially from 2.9% in 2Q). Encouragingly, e-Commerce grew 24% y/y (or 40% on a two-year stack), led by strength in pickup & delivery.... More

Walmart (WMT) Defended at RBC Capital: 'LT investment thesis remains intact, so we think shares could be bought'

RBC Capital analyst Steven Shemesh reiterated an Outperform rating and $168.00 price target on Walmart (NYSE: WMT)

The analyst comments "WMT delivered against heightened comp expectations (WMT U.S. +4.9% vs. buyside ~4.5%), but missed on EPS ($1.53 vs. buyside ~$1.60 - we note this is still ~$0.01 ahead of Visible Alpha consensus). Gross margin... More

BMO Capital on Walmart (WMT): '3Q Beat, but Not Enough for High Expectations Today'

BMO Capital analyst Kelly Bania reiterated an Outperform rating and $180.00 price target on Walmart (NYSE: WMT)

The analyst comments "WMT F3Q24 was a beat and raise but was up against very high investor expectations, and we estimate the magnitude of... More

Goldman Sachs on Walmart (WMT): 'operating income growth acceleration seems delayed'

Goldman Sachs analyst Kate McShane reiterated a Buy rating and $182.00 price target on Walmart (NYSE: WMT)

The analyst comments "The stock is currently tracking down about -7% in the pre-market, likely due to the margin miss in 3Q while the acceleration in operating... More

Walmart (WMT) Defended at DA Davidson: 'we continue to like WMT'

DA Davidson analyst Katy Hallberg reiterated a Buy rating and $181.92 price target on Walmart (NYSE: WMT)

The analyst comments "Another solid quarter with a bit of a prudent outlook from Walmart. After being one of only two of the 14 Retailing / Broadlines & Hardlines names that we cover... More

TD Cowen Downgrades Target (TGT) to Market Perform, 'Stretched Consumer Will Continue to Pressure Growth'

TD Cowen analyst Oliver Chen downgraded Target (NYSE: TGT) from Outperform to Market Perform with a price target of $148.00 (from $161.00).

The analyst comments "What remains impressive is that TGT is a much bigger and better business since 2019 and pre-pandemic. We acknowledge discretionary comparisons ease considerably in the 2H24, which could... More

Advance Auto Parts (AAP) falls on mixed Q3 and lower guidance, looks to streamline with sale of Worldpac

Shares of Advance Auto Parts (NYSE: AAP) fell nearly 5% in early trading Wednesday after posting mixed third quarter results, lowering its FY guidance, announcing a new CFO, and initiating separate sale processes for Worldpac and Canadian businesses.

Third quarter net sales rose 2.9% to $2.7 billion, which modestly beat the consensus of $2.68 billion. Comparable store sales increased by 1.2%. The company reported a loss of ($0.86) per share, versus the consensus of $1.44.

The company lowered the top... More