JPMorgan upgrades Walmart to Overweight from Neutral

JPMorgan has upgraded Walmart (WMT) from Neutral to Overweight, and raised its price target from $66 to $81.

Yahoo Finance's Brian Sozzi and Seana Smith report more on the bullish call and the state of consumer spending amid inflationary pressures.

For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Morning Brief.

This post was written by Melanie Riehl

Video transcript

All right, let's take a look at Walmart.

It's getting a bullish call here from JP Morgan.

The firm upgrading the stock from neutral to overweight, raising its price target to from 66 bucks to $81 a share saying that the retailer has a quote, strong balance of def defense and offense in a soft consumer backdrop.

And I actually think that line there pretty much sums up this call and very, it was very similar to what we've heard from Walmart CFO over the several quarters there within our discussion saying that yes, it is a very, very challenging time for the consumer.

We are seeing consumers being a bit more cautious pulling back in areas here of spending, they're spending on staples.

But Walmart here seeing many of those higher end consumers downgrading here or I guess shifting more of their spending, the spending dollars to a name like Walmart.

So they're still benefiting despite all those macros, this is, this is your presidential election consumer pick.

Uh, if the consumer gets more cautious, they go to Walmart and when they go into Walmart, they're seeing better selection and prices that target can't beat if the consumer does well into the presidential election season.

Surprise a few folks.

Where are they going?

They're still going to Walmart.

As we learned from uh CFO John David Raine a couple of weeks ago, he came on our air after another big quarterly beat.

Uh saying higher some households are coming to Walmart.

Why?

Because it's just a better place to shop.

It's clean, it's better lit.

It's not the funky Walmart from 1015 years ago.

It's just a better shopping experience.

And I should add too.

This is a company that has expanded the number of items significantly online.

Uh, and then you can, uh, in many cases, order those products online and pick them up in the store and do the rest of your shopping.

This company is a winner potentially in either climate into the back half of the year.