Connect with us

Business

Wall Street Brunch: Walmart Weighs In As Q4 GDP Hits (undefined:WMT)

Published

on

Wall Street Brunch: Walmart Weighs In As Q4 GDP Hits (undefined:WMT)

Walmart superstore

tupungato/iStock Editorial via Getty Images

Listen below or on the go via Apple Podcasts and Spotify

Walmart features in a holiday-shortened week with 57 S&P 500 reports. (0:17) Economists expect Q4 GDP growth near 2.8%. (1:10) Supreme Court could rule soon on Trump tariffs. (1:37)

The following is an abridged transcript:

Advertisement

It’s a holiday-shortened week for Wall Street, with markets closed Monday for Presidents’ Day — officially Washington’s Birthday, and observed as such by the NYSE.

But in the four trading days, there’s still plenty on the calendar, with 57 S&P 500 (SP500) companies reporting results.

Walmart (WMT) is the marquee name. The retail giant is expected to report fiscal Q4 EPS of $0.73 on revenue of $188.54B when it reports Thursday. Same-store sales are forecast to rise about 4.2%. Walmart also joined the $1T market-cap club last week.

Seeking Alpha analyst Grassroots Trading says Walmart is aggressively integrating AI — including “Sparky” — to drive efficiency and profitability, narrowing the gap with Amazon (AMZN). But they rate the stock a Strong Sell, arguing the valuation looks extreme, with limited margin of safety if multiples revert.

Advertisement

Also on the earnings calendar:

Palo Alto Networks (PANW) and Medtronic (MDT) report Tuesday, followed by DoorDash (DASH) and Occidental (OXY) on Wednesday.

On the economic front, the first look at Q4 GDP is due Friday, with economists expecting 2.8% annualized growth.

Wells Fargo says the underlying fundamentals still look solid — but estimates growth could run closer to 1.6% if you factor in the government shutdown’s drag on headline activity.

Advertisement

Also due Friday are the December income and spending figures, which include the core PCE price index — the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge. Core PCE is forecast to tick up to 3% year over year.

In Washington, a Supreme Court ruling on President Trump’s tariffs could come as soon as Friday. The court has flagged three opinion days: Feb. 20, Feb. 24, and Feb. 25.

Prediction markets indicate SCOUTS will rule against the tariffs. Kalshi implies about a 27% chance the court rules in favor, while Polymarket is around 26% as of today.

In the news this weekend, Nvidia (NVDA) says CEO Jensen Huang won’t attend the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi “due to unforeseen circumstances.” But Nvidia said it remains “deeply committed” to the summit and to India’s rapidly advancing AI ecosystem.

Advertisement

The event runs Feb. 16 through Feb. 20, and is expected to draw heads of state — including French President Emmanuel Macron — along with top tech leaders such as Sundar Pichai of Alphabet (GOOG) (GOOGL) and Sam Altman of OpenAI (OPENAI).

For income investors, Chevron (CVX) goes ex-dividend Tuesday, paying out March 10.

ConocoPhillips (COP) and Hasbro (HAS) go ex-dividend Wednesday — ConocoPhillips pays out March 2, and Hasbro pays March 4.

And Microsoft (MSFT) goes ex-dividend Thursday, with a March 12 payout date.

Advertisement

And in the Wall Street Research Corner, Goldman Sachs has launched a software pair-trade basket — going long on names it sees as more insulated from AI disruption, and short on those it sees as more vulnerable.

On the long side are names such as Cloudflare (NET), CrowdStrike (CRWD), Palo Alto Networks (PANW), Oracle (ORCL), and Microsoft (MSFT).

On the short side, Goldman flagged Monday.com (MNDY), Salesforce (CRM), DocuSign (DOCU), Accenture (ACN) and Duolingo (DUOL).

Advertisement
Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Business

OpenClaw founder Steinberger joins OpenAI, open-source bot becomes foundation

Published

on

OpenClaw founder Steinberger joins OpenAI, open-source bot becomes foundation


OpenClaw founder Steinberger joins OpenAI, open-source bot becomes foundation

Continue Reading

Business

Waystar Holding Corp.: A Lot Of Market Share Yet To Convert, In An Ever-Growing Market.

Published

on

Waystar Holding Corp.: A Lot Of Market Share Yet To Convert, In An Ever-Growing Market.

Waystar Holding Corp.: A Lot Of Market Share Yet To Convert, In An Ever-Growing Market.

Continue Reading

Business

JFrog: A Mission-Critical Platform Driving Strong Unit Economics

Published

on

JFrog: A Mission-Critical Platform Driving Strong Unit Economics

JFrog: A Mission-Critical Platform Driving Strong Unit Economics

Continue Reading

Business

Australian takeover target BlueScope beats estimate with first-half earnings

Published

on

Australian takeover target BlueScope beats estimate with first-half earnings


Australian takeover target BlueScope beats estimate with first-half earnings

Continue Reading

Business

Treasury Wine’s first-half profit halves, interim dividend suspended

Published

on

Treasury Wine’s first-half profit halves, interim dividend suspended


Treasury Wine’s first-half profit halves, interim dividend suspended

Continue Reading

Business

New Zealand home prices dip in January, holiday lull hits demand

Published

on

New Zealand home prices dip in January, holiday lull hits demand


New Zealand home prices dip in January, holiday lull hits demand

Continue Reading

Business

FBI confirms DNA recovered from glove found near Nancy Guthrie’s home

Published

on

FBI confirms DNA recovered from glove found near Nancy Guthrie’s home


FBI confirms DNA recovered from glove found near Nancy Guthrie’s home

Continue Reading

Business

New Zealand’s a2 Milk posts 9.4% rise in interim earnings

Published

on

New Zealand’s a2 Milk posts 9.4% rise in interim earnings


New Zealand’s a2 Milk posts 9.4% rise in interim earnings

Continue Reading

Business

Warner Bros weighs reopening sale talks with Paramount, Bloomberg News reports

Published

on

Warner Bros weighs reopening sale talks with Paramount, Bloomberg News reports


Warner Bros weighs reopening sale talks with Paramount, Bloomberg News reports

Continue Reading

Business

PCE, Walmart, Palo Alto, Analog Devices, Deere, and More to Watch This Week

Published

on

PCE, Walmart, Palo Alto, Analog Devices, Deere, and More to Watch This Week

PCE, Walmart, Palo Alto, Analog Devices, Deere, and More to Watch This Week

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2025