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Deutsche Bank Upgrades Wal-Mart to “Hold”; Target, Estimates also Boosted (WMT)

By Dividend.com,  August 01, 2012, 09:26:46 AM EDT

Retail superpower Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. ( WMT ) on Wednesday caught a big upgrade from analysts at Deutsche Bank.

The firm boosted its rating on WMT from "Sell" to "Hold" with a $68 price target, suggesting an 8.6% downside to the stock's Tuesday closing price of $74.43.

A Deutsche Bank analyst commented, "Our call is a combination of both improving fundamentals from Bentonville and a view that the defensive trade we've seen since late April will likely persist into early '13. Separately, the rules of engagement have changed in favor of Wal-Mart - both commodity moves (i.e. gas prices down = + for traffic; food inputs up = + for SSS) and incremental market share opportunities from SUPERVALU ( SVU ) / JCPenney ( JCP ) / RadioShack ( RSH ) / Best Buy ( BBY ). Finally, post a meeting with mgmt. yesterday in NJ, it's evident that the company's current strategy is being well executed and once again resonating with the core WMT shopper."

Accordingly, the firm lifted its full-year EPS estimate for WMT from $4.91 to $5.27.

Wal-Mart shares were mostly flat in premarket trading Wednesday.

The Bottom Line
Shares of Wal-Mart ( WMT ) have a 2.14% dividend yield, based on last night's closing stock price of $74.43. The stock has technical support in the $68-$70 price area. The shares are trading near all-time highs.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. ( WMT ) is not recommended at this time, holding a Dividend.com DARS™ Rating of 3.4 out of 5 stars.

Be sure to visit our complete recommended list of the Best Dividend Stocks , as well as a detailed explanation of our ratings system here .




The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc.


This article appears in: Investing, Stocks

Referenced Stocks: BBY, JCP, RSH, SVU, WMT



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