Here's Every Rating And Price Target On Wal-Mart Ahead Of Q3 Results

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. WMT is reporting its third-quarter numbers on November 17 before market opens. The results come at a time when retailers are struggling to navigate headwinds such as food deflation, labor and e-commerce competition, particularly from behemoth Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN.

Wall Street expects the retail giant to earn $0.96 a share on revenue of $118.70 billion. This implies a drop of 3 percent in earnings and 1.10 percent in sales versus the same quarter last year.

But, investors should find comfort in the fact that the company’s earnings have topped the Street view in all of the past four quarters. If competitor results are any indication, the better-than-expected numbers from Target Corporation TGT create a positive vibe ahead Wal-Mart’s earnings.

Recently, Jefferies analyst Daniel Binder boosted his Wal-Mart's SSS expectations from 1.5 percent to 1.7 percent in the United States for the third quarter. The brokerage’s checks indicated continued sales momentum, driven by price investments, store execution and continued e-commerce enhancements.

Binder noted that these moves would boost gross margin and in relation EPS estimate from $0.94 to $0.96, which is within the forecast of $0.90 – $1.00 offered by the retailer.

Ahead Of Q3 Print

That said, the market is concerned with the retailer’s long-term heavy investments, which would cripple margins and earnings. Wal-Mart is making big investments in grocery, logistics and e-commerce.

For the full-year 2016, the consensus EPS estimate is at $4.34 per share. But, the Street projects only $0.02 rise in 2017 earnings to $4.36 given heavy investments. The consensus estimate for 2017 EPS were down $0.07 in the past 90 days.

On the results and call, investors will likely be focusing on the fourth-quarter commentary and the traffic trends for the key holiday shopping season, in addition to potential impact on margins from investments.

The market would also keenly watch how Wal-Mart’s online segment faring against heavyweight Amazon and areas where Wal-Mart is narrowing the price gap versus Amazon.

Voices From The Street

Here are the analyst ratings and price targets of Wal-Mart:

• Barclays: Overweight rating, price target of $87.
• BMO Capital: Underperform, $72.8.
• Cowen & Co.: Outperform.
• Credit Suisse: Outperform, $80.
• Deutsche Bank: Hold, $75.
• Guggenheim: Buy.
• Jefferies: Buy, $86.
• KeyBanc: Overweight, $90.
• Piper Jaffray: Neutral.

At last check, shares of Wal-Mart were up 0.39 percent to $71.69.