Large retailers in the United States - Wal Mart, Home Depot and Target - can provide a lot of insight into the health of American consumers. In particular, Wal Mart, the largest retailer in the United States, has received extensive attention from investors and analysts.

Learn more about Wal Mart's latest Q1 financial report and analysts' forecasts for the following stocks.

The Invest.MT5 account allows you to purchase real stocks and shares from 15 of the world's largest stock exchanges.

All transactions are high-risk, and your losses in the transaction may outweigh the risk. Never invest more than you can bear, as some trades will lose money and others will profit. Start small and understand your own level of risk tolerance, or practice on a simulated account to accumulate knowledge before investing.

Wal Mart's performance breakdown in the first quarter of 2023

The following are some key highlights of Wal Mart's latest fiscal quarter earnings report:

Earnings per share of $1.47, expected to be $1.32

Revenue of $152.3 billion, expected to be $148.76 billion

Net income decreased from $2.05 billion in the same period last year to $1.67 billion

Same store sales excluding fuel in the United States increased by 7.4%

E-commerce sales increased by 27% year-on-year

The second quarter forecast for earnings per share is between $1.63 and $1.68, lower than the expected $1.71

On the surface, Wal Mart announced some impressive results in its first quarter earnings report of fiscal year 2023. It exceeded analysts' expectations for earnings per share and revenue. This is mainly due to the huge growth in its grocery department offsetting the decrease in sales in its clothing and electronics department.

This is also a trend seen in the earnings of other large retailers last week. Consumers are increasingly concerned about essential goods, so they are purchasing fewer and fewer non essential consumer goods, while purchasing higher priced goods. About 60% of Wal Mart's annual sales in the United States come from groceries. Although this sounds good, the profit margin of the grocery store is much lower, which has led to a year-on-year decrease in the company's gross profit margin.

Chief Financial Officer John David Rainey stated that as the quarter progressed, the consumption trend began to weaken, with a significant decline in February. He listed the reasons for this situation, such as the end of pandemic emergency funds and the reduction of tax refunds.

This is why Wal Mart provided a lower than expected earnings per share forecast for the next quarter. Most importantly, Rainey stated during the earnings conference call that 'stubborn inflation' has brought a lot of uncertainty to the development at the end of the year. Therefore, tracking the economic data of the United States can better understand the growth direction of Wal Mart.

Wal Mart stock forecast - what do analysts say?

According to the analysts surveyed by TipRanks' prediction of Wal Mart stock in the past three months, the current rating of the stock is 24 buy, 5 hold and 0 sell ratings. The highest price level of Wal Mart stock forecast is $175.00, and the lowest target price is $155.00.

The average target price of Wal Mart stock forecast is $165.64.

Example of trading concept of Wal Mart stock price

Example trading ideas of Wal Mart's stock price are as follows:

Buy stocks above $155.00 to consider current volatility.

The target price is slightly lower than the analyst's maximum target price of $175.00.

Keep your risk to a small level, up to a maximum of 5% of your total account.

Timeline=1-6 months

If you buy 10 shares of Wal Mart stock:

If the target is achieved, the potential profit is $200.00 ($175.00- $155.00 * 10 shares).

Please remember that there are ups and downs in the market, and stock prices are unlikely to rise sharply. In fact, it may even fall further before rising, especially considering the uncertainty of the inflation environment and how this will affect consumer activity.

It is essential to conduct good risk management and always understand how much you may lose in transactions, the risks involved, and the costs involved.

Using the Admirals Invest.MT5 account, you can buy and sell US stocks with a commission starting at $0.02 per share. This means that the purchase of 10 shares of Wal Mart stock will generate a commission of $0.20 ($0.02 * 10 shares) to execute unilateral transactions.

The minimum transaction fee is $1. Therefore, the above example trading idea only generates a commission of $1!

How to buy Wal Mart shares in four steps

Through Admirals, you can buy shares of Wal Mart and other companies at a low commission of $0.02 per share. The minimum commission for buying American shares is only $1.

Open an account at Admials to access the Dashboard.

Click 'Transaction' on one of your real or simulated accounts to open the online platform.

Search for your stock at the bottom of the 'Market Quotation' window and drag the trading variety onto the chart.

Use the one click trading function, or right-click and open the trading order to enter your trading size, stop loss, and stop profit level.

Do you see different trends in Wal Mart's share price?

Please remember that all analysis and trading ideas are based on the author's personal views and experience.

If you think Wal Mart's share price is more likely to fall, you can also short through the CFD (contract for differences) trading account provided by Admirals.

Trade.MT5 and Trade.MT4 accounts allow you to use price difference contracts to speculate on the price direction of stocks and shares.

This means that you can engage in long and short trades to profit from the rise and fall of stock prices. Learn more about price difference contracts in this article on how to trade them.

Information on analytical materials:

The given data provides additional information on all analyses, estimates, predictions, forecasts, market reviews, weekly forecasts, or other similar assessments or information published on the website of Admirals SC Ltd (hereinafter referred to as "analysis").