On Tuesday, Walmart announced that next year it will kick-start a new pilot of electric-powered self-driving cars with Cruise, that’s a majority-owned subsidiary of General Motors. While the retail giant did not disclose terms of the deal, it did say that customers who live near the pilot in Scottsdale, Arizona can place an order from their local store and have it delivered by one of Cruise’s vehicles. Tom Ward, senior vice president of customer product for Walmart U.S also mentioned that the electric car project will help Walmart achieve its goals of delivering items to customers quickly, and to reach the company’s target of zero emissions by 2040.

The $160 price target is based on ~29x analysts FY22 EPS estimate of $5.50, compared to consensus estimates of $4.99 per share. They cited  Walmart’s ability to accelerate its digital ad segment & boost e-commerce profitability.Tailwinds include decisions to have an in-house media group, the launch of various tools and analytics for greater control and insights for advertisers, and strong early reads from advertisers. According to Tickeron, Momentum Indicator for WMT turns positive, indicating new upward trend WMT saw its Momentum Indicator move above the 0 level on September 30, 2020.

Dollar Tree  has plans  to hire more than 25,000 workers to meet an expected surge in demand during holiday season. The discount retail giant will look to employ full-time and part-time workers across Dollar Tree and Family Dollar stores and for its U.S. distribution centers over the coming weeks.Open positions will include store managers, assistant store managers, cashiers, and stocking associates. The distribution centers require more  management staff, equipment operators and warehouse associates. Last month retail giants Walmart  and Target announced that they were hiring 20,000 and 130,000 workers, respectively, to cater to online orders and digital sales for he holiday-season demand. Tickeron's analysis shows: DLTR's MACD Histogram crosses above signal line The Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) for DLTR turned positive on September 28, 2020.

However,  rising coronavirus expenses, including wage increases, had an impact on the results. The retail company’s  said earnings for the three months ending in August, came in at $3.04 per share, well above analysts’ forecast of $2.85 per share.Same-store sales rose by +11.4% -- the most in two decades . However, pandemic-related expenses increased, topping $280 million for the quarter, higher than $100 million forecast.

Walmart  plans to hire 20,000 workers in the face of  an expected increase in online demand this holiday season. The retail behemoth said that job applicants are expected to start immediately.The hired workers will pack and ship online orders at Walmart’s e-commerce fulfillment centers .

Dollar Tree  reported fiscal-second-quarter earnings that surpassed analysts’ estimates. For the quarter ended Aug. 1, the discount chain’s net income came in at $261.5 million, or $1.10 a share, compared with the year-ago quarter’s $180.3 million, or 76 cents.Analysts surveyed by FactSet had expected earnings of 92 cents a share. Revenue rose to $6.28 billion from $5.74 billion, compared to analysts’ forecast of $6.22 billion.  Dollar Tree’s comparable sales grew +7.2%. The company experienced a 1.8-percentage-point boost in gross-profit margin.  Tickeron's analysis shows DLTR in Uptrend: 50-day Moving Average broke above 200-day Moving Average on July 27, 2020 A buy signal is indicated by this change in price, due to the trend repositioning higher.

Walmart Inc.  reported second quarter earnings that beat analysts’ estimates, on solid digital sales. The retail giant’s adjusted earnings for the three months ending July surged +22.8% year-over-year to $1.56 per share, well ahead of the Street consensus expectation of $1.25 per share. Revenue increased +5.6% year-over-year to $137.7 billion, which is higher than the Street estimate of  $135.37 billion. Walmart’s e-commerce sales performed solidly well amid the covid-19 pandemic, with a +97% growth the year-ago period. Comparable sales in the U.S. climbed +9.3%.The odds of a continued Downtrend are 43%. Fundamental Analysis (Ratings) Tickeron has a positive outlook on this ticker and predicts a further increase by more than 4.00% within the next month with a likelihood of 78%.

 The average transaction climbed +9.3% from last year.Membership revenues increased+ 5% to $815 million The company’s U.S. stores remained open during the pandemic since it sells essential goods (among other items). Tickeron's A.I.-powered scorecard rates Costco as HOLD. Current price $306.00 crossed the resistance line at $300.88 and is trading between $309.90 support and $300.88 resistance lines. Throughout the month of 04/27/20 - 05/28/20, the price experienced a +0.48% Uptrend.

Deep discount retail chains Dollar General (NYSE: DG) and Dollar Tree (Nasdaq: DLTR) are both set to release fiscal first quarter earnings results before the market opens on Thursday, May 28.This means the companies have seen similar sales growth, similar return on equity readings and profit margins. Dollar General's Price Growth Rating (41) in the Discount Stores industry is in the same range as Dollar Tree (54).

Walmart Inc.  reported first quarter earnings that surpassed expectations. The retail behemoth’s adjusted earnings for the three months ending in April came in at 1.18 per share, which is 5 cents above the Street consensus forecast.The figure is also +4.4% higher from the year-ago quarter. Revenues increased +8.6% year-over-year  to $134.6 billion, also exceeding analysts' estimates of a $131.47 billion. The company generated a +74% surge in its e-commerce sales. Walmart’s same-store sales in the quarter climbed +10%, beating the Street estimates of  +7.2%.

Walmart  plans to hire 150,000 temporary workers by the end of May amid growing demand for goods during the coronavirus crisis. The retail giant said it would be hiring for roles in its stores, clubs, distribution centers and fulfillment centers.  The positions would be temporary initially, but would be converted to permanent jobs, according to Walmart.  It also added, "We’ve reached out to industry groups representing restaurants and hospitality to facilitate temporary roles that can be a bridge for their employees during this difficult time.The bonuses will total more than $365 million, as indicated by Walmart .  

However, it missed same-store sales growth estimates. The discount retailer’s adjusted earnings for the three months ending on February 1 came in at $1.79 per share, 4 cents ahead of the Street expectations.The figure, however, is -7.25% lower than the year-ago quarter. Group net sales increased +1.8% year-over-year to $6.32 billion in the quarter, but fell short of analysts' estimates of a $6.385 billion. Same store sales rose +0.4% , falling behind analysts’ estimate of +1.7% (Refinitiv survey). For the full-year, Dollar Tree projects sales in the range of $24.2 billion to $24.66 billion, and earnings of between $4.80 to $5.15 per share

The big-box retail chain also provided a lower-than-expected guidance for fiscal full-year 2021. Walmart’s adjusted earnings for the three months ending January came in at $1.38 a share, compared to the $1.44 a share expected by analysts polled by FactSet. Sales increased to $141.67 billion, from the year-ago quarter’s $138.8 billion, but were lower than analysts' estimates of $142.5 billion. U.S.same-store sales for Walmart climbed +1.9%, below the Street expectation of a +2.3% rise.  E-commerce sales surged +35%. Chief Financial Officer Brett Biggs said that Walmart experienced softening demand in a few general merchandise segments in their U.S. stores in the few weeks before Christmas.

Big Lots  reported a fiscal-third-quarter loss narrower than anticipated, as the company continued to emphasize on cost-cutting and restructuring. For the three months ended November 2, the retail company incurred an adjusted loss of -18 cents a share, compared to the -20 cents loss expected by analysts polled by FactSet.In the year-ago quarter, the loss was -12 cents a share. The results include an after-tax gain of $136.6 million, or $3.49 a share, from the sale of the company's distribution center in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., as well as after-tax expense of $2.6 million, or 7 cents a share, associated with the company's strategic business revamp. Big Lots’ sales for the quarter increased +1.6% to $1.17 billion, in line with the $1.2 billion expected by analysts. Same-store sales decreased -0.1%, compared to the company’s guidance of flattish growth.  For the fourth-quarter, Big Lots has projected earnings of $2.40 to $2.55 a share, and expects a slight incre

Wholesale membership retailer Costco (Nasdaq: COST) is scheduled to report fiscal fourth quarter and year-end earnings on October 3.From a fundamental perspective, the company has some indicators that are sub-par and could hurt the stock going forward. Let’s look at the chart first.

Analyst Rupesh Parikh  mentioned the company's price to future earnings ratio  at 34.5 times is "well above prior peaks on both metrics".Parikh sees limited upside to the shares - due to premium valuation, potentially aggressive Street forecasts, and difficult compares especially in Q2 (as indicated by the analyst). Oppenheimer’s expectation for full year 2020 and 2021 earnings are $8.40 and $8.95 a share respectively, which are below the corresponding consensus estimates of $8.55 and $9.21 per share. However, Oppenheimer increased their price target on Costco's shares to $300 from $295.     

Recently Big Lots reported its second quarter earnings, which turned out to be higher than analysts’ expectations.  The retail company’s adjusted earnings for the quarter came in at  53 cents a share, beating analysts’ estimate of 40 cents.However, the EPS was lower compared to the year-ago quarter’s  59 cents. Revenue of $1.25 billion matched the Street expectations, while rising above the year-ago quarter’s $1.22 billion. For the full-year, the company reiterated its outlook on earnings range, i.e.

Target reported second-quarter earnings and sales - both of which surpassed analysts’ expectations. The retail giant’s earnings per share for the quarter came in at $1.82 (from the year-ago quarter’s $1.47), beating the $1.62 expected by analysts polled by Refinitiv. Revenue of $18.42 billion, too, exceeded analysts’ estimates of $18.34 billion. Same-store sales grew +3.4%, compared to 2.9% growth expected by analysts. Looking ahead, Target boosted its outlook on full-year earnings.Analysts polled by FactSet were expecting full-year per-share earnings of $5.94 a share on sales of $78 billion. While its physical stores showed a strong performance, Target (along with several traditional retailers) are apparently working on making shopping more convenient and attractive to consumers.

Dollar Tree's stock price increased almost +2% Tuesday, following a rating upgrade by J.P. Morgan. J.P.The investment bank set a $122 per share price target on the shares, representing a 17.5% upside from the stock's closing price on Monday. The bank’s analysts project high-single net income growth and low-double-digit consolidated EPS growth beyond FY19 for Dollar Tree.

 Walmart is going to begin delivering groceries inside shoppers’ homes.Right to their kitchen refrigerators.