Raymond James: Wal-Mart's Stock Is Very Attractive Here
Shares of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) opened lower on Tuesday as the company reported worse than expected second-quarter numbers and lowered its full year guidance before markets opened for trade.
Budd Bugatch from Raymond James was on CNBC post Wal-Mart's results declaration to weigh in on the retailing giant's earnings.
The Good, The Bad And The Disappointing
"We are seeing it on the sales line," Bugatch began. "We are seeing good sales, sales better than expected. Comps in the U.S. were up 1.5 percent with traffic driving that about 1.3 percent. So, that's the good news and, I think, his plan is to improve comps and improve sales particularly in the U.S., but elsewhere as well."
He continued, "We are seeing it in Sam's (Club) as well. And earnings will ultimately follow. They are pressured right now by expenses and the disappointing fact in the quarter is probably the guidance, taking that down by $0.30 to $0.35 from where it was in February."
Very Attractive At These Levels
Bugatch was asked if he will be a buyer of the stock at current levels. He replied, "Yes, that was the basis of our recommendation we made a couple of months ago, a couple of weeks ago. We think the stock is very attractive here and I am rarely able to bottom-pick a stock recommendation, but for Wal-Mart, the risk reward here as the stock seems to be overwhelmingly on the reward side versus the risk side."
At the time of this writing, Wal-Mart is trading down 2.88 percent at $69.88.
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