Walmart (WMT) closed at $142.22 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.23% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.18% loss on the day.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the world's largest retailer had gained 1.74% over the past month. This has outpaced the Retail-Wholesale sector's loss of 3.25% and lagged the S&P 500's gain of 2.44% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from WMT as it approaches its next earnings report date. This is expected to be August 17, 2021. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.53, down 1.92% from the prior-year quarter. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $135.88 billion, down 1.35% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $5.96 per share and revenue of $551.89 billion, which would represent changes of +8.76% and -1.3%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for WMT. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.1% higher within the past month. WMT is currently a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking at its valuation, WMT is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 23.92. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 13.45, which means WMT is trading at a premium to the group.

Investors should also note that WMT has a PEG ratio of 4.35 right now. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. Retail - Supermarkets stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.3 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Retail - Supermarkets industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 231, putting it in the bottom 10% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.

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