What happened
Slightly over a week out from Walmart's (WMT -0.08%) investment community meeting -- its version of an investor day -- that ever-important community gave the company a stamp of approval. Walmart's share price rose by nearly 2% on Monday, convincingly beating the less-than 0.2% gain of the S&P 500 index. Leading the bull parade was a pair of influential analysts who reiterated their positive takes on the stock.
So what
Both Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley published fresh research notes covering Walmart stock that morning.
The former's analyst Kate McShane reiterated her buy recommendation on the retailer, pointing out that the investment community meetings have a way of pushing up the share price. She added, sensibly, that commentary about profit margins and earnings guidance tends to be the most crucial driver of sentiment coming out of the event.
However McShane feels that this year, investor attention will likely be directed to updates about recent, high-profile initiatives from the company. "Specifically, we are looking for details on e-commerce, Walmart Connect, Walmart+, grocery, home & apparel, health & wellness, the supply chain, and capital allocation," she wrote.
Now what
Morgan Stanley's Simeon Gutman expressed a broadly similar view, while reiterating his overweight (read: buy) recommendation and $160 per-share price target on Walmart's shares. Gutman said that the company is looking good as a defensive stock play. (The environment has some investors still concerned about potential macroeconomic minefields.)
For his part, Gutman is expecting that Walmart will "[reframe] its algorithm" with expectations of 4% sales growth this year compared to 2022, accompanied by a 5% to 7% rise in earnings before interest and taxes, plus a high single-digit increase in earnings per share (EPS).
