What Analysts Think of Walmart Stock Ahead of Earnings

Key Takeaways

Walmart is set to report earnings for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025 on Thursday morning, with analysts expecting rising sales and profits from the country’s biggest retailer.

Analysts are generally bullish on Walmart (

WMT

) stock, with 20 “buy” ratings among the 21 analysts tracked by Visible Alpha, along with one “hold.” However, the retailer has an average price target of $107.76, less than 4% above Friday’s close, suggesting analysts may be waiting to see Walmart’s outlook for 2025 after an 85% jump over the past 12 months.

The retail giant is expected to report $180.2 billion in revenue for the quarter, up nearly 4% year-over-year, along with adjusted earnings per share of $0.64, up 7% from the year-ago quarter. If Walmart reports in line with analyst estimates, it could mark the first time that Walmart’s quarterly revenue is lower than that of Amazon (

AMZN

), which reported $187.8 billion
earlier this
month.

Analysts Expect Q4 Beat, Conservative Forecasts

A number of analysts have lifted their price target for Walmart stock in the weeks leading up to earnings, citing expectations that Walmart will continue gaining market share and topping analysts’ estimates.

Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank analysts each recently lifted their price target to $115, while analysts from JPMorgan and Bank of America lifted their targets to $112 and $120, respectively.

Analysts from Melius Research wrote late last month that they see Walmart as able to “meaningfully beat” fourth-quarter estimates, and said that their “primary concern” is high expectations from the market. Melius and Morgan Stanley analysts said they expect Walmart will stick to its past trend of being conservative in its initial projections for fiscal 2026, but said they expect the retail giant’s share price gains to continue this year.

“Against a backdrop of increased uncertainty owing to tariff and deportation policies, the market is rotating into quality and scale, seeking out share gainers that are in a position to mitigate these potential policy headwinds via bargaining power and superior, more highly automated supply chains,” Morgan Stanley analysts wrote on Thursday.