Advertisement
CL or KR or WMT
Which Stock Would AI Choose? Colgate-Palmolive (CL) vs. Kroger (KR) vs. Walmart (WMT) Stock Comparison
Key Takeaways
- CL has faced recent pullbacks amid inflation pressures and commodity costs, trading around $85 with YTD gains near 8%, highlighting its defensive consumer staples positioning but near-term volatility.
- KR shows stronger YTD performance at about 16%, bolstered by eCommerce growth and new leadership under CEO Greg Foran, though recent weeks reflect broader market caution.
- WMT maintains relative stability with YTD returns around 10%, driven by robust advertising and eCommerce expansion, positioning it as a market leader in retail resilience.
- All three stocks exhibit consumer defensive traits, but WMT and KR benefit from scale in grocery, while CL leverages premium oral care brands amid shifting sentiment.
- Recent market activity shows pullbacks across the board, influenced by geopolitical tensions and inflation, yet long-term trends favor diversified growth in eCommerce and essentials.
Introduction
This stock comparison examines CL, KR, and WMT, three stalwarts in consumer staples and retail. CL dominates oral and personal care, KR leads in supermarkets, and WMT excels in hyper-scale discount retail. Traders seeking defensive plays amid volatility and investors eyeing relative performance in essentials will find value here. Recent weeks' price behavior, sentiment from earnings, and sector dynamics provide clear contrasts in momentum and positioning for informed decision-making in today's uncertain market.
CL Overview and Recent Performance
Colgate-Palmolive (CL), a global leader in oral, personal, home care, and pet nutrition, operates in over 200 countries with brands like Colgate toothpaste holding dominant market share. Its business model emphasizes premium pricing, high gross margins around 60%, and steady demand for essentials. Recent market activity has seen CL pull back approximately 10% over the past month to around $85, influenced by rising oil prices, inflation in commodities, and geopolitical tensions impacting input costs. Despite this, YTD gains stand at about 8%, supported by strategic leadership changes and science-based innovations. Sentiment reflects discussions on valuation opportunities post-pullback, with strong fundamentals like reliable dividends tempering downside risks.
KR Overview and Recent Performance
The Kroger Co. (KR) runs over 2,700 supermarkets, multi-department stores, and pharmacies under various banners, focusing on groceries, fuel, and digital services. Its model drives value through private labels, eCommerce, and cost controls. In recent weeks, KR shares hovered around $72-73 after peaking near $76, with YTD returns of roughly 16% fueled by 20% eCommerce growth and Q4 revenue of $34.7 billion. New CEO Greg Foran's emphasis on affordable fresh foods and nimble delivery has boosted optimism, though forecasts remain soft amid competition. Performance reflects resilience in budget-conscious spending, with analyst upgrades underscoring market share potential.
WMT Overview and Recent Performance
Walmart Inc. (WMT) operates over 10,500 stores globally, blending supercenters, eCommerce, and Sam's Club for omnichannel retail in groceries, general merchandise, and services. Its scale enables everyday low prices via efficient supply chains. Recent trading shows WMT around $120-122 after dips, with YTD gains near 10% and 24% eCommerce surge supporting ad business growth. Pullbacks tie to broader retail pressures, but AI pricing tools and automation enhance margins. Sentiment favors its diversified revenue and stability, with strong Q4 results reinforcing long-term positioning.
Trending AI Robots
Tickeron’s Trending AI Robots page curates the top performers from its library of 351 AI trading bots, which analyze thousands of tickers using diverse strategies like swing trading, trend following, and technical signals across stocks, ETFs, and crypto. Only bots excelling in current conditions—such as high volatility or sector rotations—earn a spot, with stats like annualized returns up to +125%, win rates from 56% to 89%, and profit factors reaching 6.11. Timeframes vary from 5-minute scalps to 58-day holds, including consumer staples bots trading WMT (+25% return, 74% win rate) and multi-ticker setups with CL, KR, and peers (+69% return). These highlight adaptive AI for real-time edges. Explore the page to align bots with your trading style.
Head-to-Head Comparison
CL, KR, and WMT anchor consumer defensive sectors but diverge in models: CL's branded essentials yield high margins (60%) with low cyclicality, versus retailers' volume-driven grocery focus. Growth drivers include WMT's eCommerce (24% rise) and ads, KR's digital (20%), and CL's innovations—yet recent momentum favors KR YTD (16%) over WMT (10%) and CL (8%). Risks: commodity inflation hits CL, competition pressures KR, scale buffers WMT. Valuations show KR cheapest (forward P/E ~14), CL mid (~22), WMT premium (~41), with sentiment tilting to retail stability amid caution.
Tickeron AI Verdict
Tickeron’s AI leans toward WMT in the current environment, citing its trend consistency via eCommerce scale, lower beta stability, and catalysts like advertising growth amid retail resilience. KR's momentum and value appeal probabilistically, but CL's pullbacks suggest caution. Relative positioning favors WMT for defensive upside.
Disclaimer
The information on this webpage is provided for general informational and educational purposes only and is not intended as investment advice, a recommendation to purchase or sell any security, or an offer or solicitation related to investments. It does not consider your personal financial situation, goals, or risk profile, and all investing carries inherent risks, including the possibility of losing your entire investment. For more details, please review our full Disclaimers and Limitations.
Long-Term Analysis
It is best to consider a long-term outlook for a ticker by using Fundamental Analysis (FA) ratings. The rating of 1 to 100, where 1 is best and 100 is worst, is divided into thirds. The first third (a green rating of 1-33) indicates that the ticker is undervalued; the second third (a grey number between 34 and 66) means that the ticker is valued fairly; and the last third (red number of 67 to 100) reflects that the ticker is undervalued. We use an FA Score to show how many ratings show the ticker to be undervalued (green) or overvalued (red).
CL’s FA Score shows that 1 FA rating(s) are green whileKR’s FA Score has 2 green FA rating(s), and WMT’s FA Score reflects 2 green FA rating(s).
- CL’s FA Score: 1 green, 4 red.
- KR’s FA Score: 2 green, 3 red.
- WMT’s FA Score: 2 green, 3 red.
Short-Term Analysis
It is best to consider a short-term outlook for a ticker by using Technical Analysis (TA) indicators. We use Odds of Success as the percentage of outcomes which confirm successful trade signals in the past.
If the Odds of Success (the likelihood of the continuation of a trend) for each indicator are greater than 50%, then the generated signal is confirmed. A green percentage from 90% to 51% indicates that the ticker is in a bullish trend. A red percentage from 90% - 51% indicates that the ticker is in a bearish trend. All grey percentages are below 50% and are considered not to confirm the trend signal.
CL’s TA Score shows that 6 TA indicator(s) are bullish while KR’s TA Score has 4 bullish TA indicator(s), and WMT’s TA Score reflects 5 bullish TA indicator(s).
- CL’s TA Score: 6 bullish, 4 bearish.
- KR’s TA Score: 4 bullish, 6 bearish.
- WMT’s TA Score: 5 bullish, 4 bearish.
Price Growth
CL (@Household/Personal Care) experienced а +1.74% price change this week, while KR (@Food Retail) price change was +0.29% , and WMT (@Discount Stores) price fluctuated +0.58% for the same time period.
The average weekly price growth across all stocks in the @Household/Personal Care industry was +0.96%. For the same industry, the average monthly price growth was +3.95%, and the average quarterly price growth was -8.44%.
The average weekly price growth across all stocks in the @Food Retail industry was +2.31%. For the same industry, the average monthly price growth was +2.04%, and the average quarterly price growth was +3.08%.
The average weekly price growth across all stocks in the @Discount Stores industry was +2.34%. For the same industry, the average monthly price growth was +2.71%, and the average quarterly price growth was +7.10%.
Reported Earning Dates
CL is expected to report earnings on May 01, 2026.
KR is expected to report earnings on Jun 11, 2026.
WMT is expected to report earnings on May 14, 2026.
Industries' Descriptions
@Household/Personal Care (+0.96% weekly)Household/Personal Care companies sell products for home cleaning and/or personal hygiene and grooming purposes. Products of this industry include detergents, shampoos, soaps, cosmetics, fabric conditioners and infant care fragrances. Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Estee Lauder and Colgate-Palmolive are some of the biggest names in the business. A lot of the products become a necessary part of people’s daily routine, and therefore the industry is relatively less vulnerable to macroeconomic downturns. At the same time, product quality, consumer safety, and ease of use are extremely critical factors for a company to survive competition and earn recognition in this industry.
@Food Retail (+2.31% weekly)The food retail industry includes companies that sell food, beverage and household products. Items sold include grocery, gourmet food, fresh produce, and frozen food. Kroger Co., George Weston Ltd., Grocery Outlet Holding Corp., and Sprouts Farmers Markets, Inc. are examples of major food retailers. While e-commerce companies like Amazon have increasingly been ramping-up offerings in the food retail space, several traditional players have also been expanding their online presence to stand their ground against rising competition.
@Discount Stores (+2.34% weekly)Companies in the discount stores industry specialize in offering substantial discounts on a vast array of retail products. Some companies in this industry also operate general merchandise warehouse clubs. Products sold at discount stores are typically similar to those of any department store, but the pricing of the goods is generally much lower (and hence the name “discount”). Think Dollar General Corporation, Dollar Tree, Inc. and Five Below, Inc. Many discount stores target low-income households and/or price-sensitive consumers as their potential market. Discount stores’ profitability could hinge on factors like competitive pricing, sufficient locations, healthy revenue per square foot, and effective advertisement. These store operators could have an edge over other retailers during financial crises or recessions, when many consumers could be looking for less expensive alternatives.
| CL | KR | WMT | |
| Capitalization | 68.8B | 41.8B | 1.02T |
| EBITDA | 3.96B | 5.76B | 46.5B |
| Gain YTD | 9.258 | 9.686 | 14.677 |
| P/E Ratio | 32.63 | 44.28 | 46.70 |
| Revenue | 20.4B | 148B | 713B |
| Total Cash | 1.29B | 4.58B | 10.7B |
| Total Debt | 8.55B | 24.7B | 67.1B |
CL | KR | WMT | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
OUTLOOK RATING 1..100 | 71 | 54 | 33 | |
VALUATION overvalued / fair valued / undervalued 1..100 | 98 Overvalued | 55 Fair valued | 92 Overvalued | |
PROFIT vs RISK RATING 1..100 | 65 | 24 | 6 | |
SMR RATING 1..100 | 5 | 56 | 40 | |
PRICE GROWTH RATING 1..100 | 57 | 59 | 24 | |
P/E GROWTH RATING 1..100 | 43 | 10 | 42 | |
SEASONALITY SCORE 1..100 | 50 | 50 | 50 |
Tickeron ratings are formulated such that a rating of 1 designates the most successful stocks in a given industry, while a rating of 100 points to the least successful stocks for that industry.
KR's Valuation (55) in the Food Retail industry is somewhat better than the same rating for WMT (92) in the Specialty Stores industry, and is somewhat better than the same rating for CL (98) in the Household Or Personal Care industry. This means that KR's stock grew somewhat faster than WMT’s and somewhat faster than CL’s over the last 12 months.
WMT's Profit vs Risk Rating (6) in the Specialty Stores industry is in the same range as KR (24) in the Food Retail industry, and is somewhat better than the same rating for CL (65) in the Household Or Personal Care industry. This means that WMT's stock grew similarly to KR’s and somewhat faster than CL’s over the last 12 months.
CL's SMR Rating (5) in the Household Or Personal Care industry is somewhat better than the same rating for WMT (40) in the Specialty Stores industry, and is somewhat better than the same rating for KR (56) in the Food Retail industry. This means that CL's stock grew somewhat faster than WMT’s and somewhat faster than KR’s over the last 12 months.
WMT's Price Growth Rating (24) in the Specialty Stores industry is somewhat better than the same rating for CL (57) in the Household Or Personal Care industry, and is somewhat better than the same rating for KR (59) in the Food Retail industry. This means that WMT's stock grew somewhat faster than CL’s and somewhat faster than KR’s over the last 12 months.
KR's P/E Growth Rating (10) in the Food Retail industry is in the same range as WMT (42) in the Specialty Stores industry, and is somewhat better than the same rating for CL (43) in the Household Or Personal Care industry. This means that KR's stock grew similarly to WMT’s and somewhat faster than CL’s over the last 12 months.
| CL | KR | WMT | |
|---|---|---|---|
| RSI ODDS (%) | 3 days ago 46% | 3 days ago 57% | N/A |
| Stochastic ODDS (%) | 3 days ago 45% | 3 days ago 66% | 3 days ago 29% |
| Momentum ODDS (%) | 3 days ago 47% | 3 days ago 49% | 3 days ago 59% |
| MACD ODDS (%) | 3 days ago 44% | 3 days ago 54% | 3 days ago 66% |
| TrendWeek ODDS (%) | 3 days ago 46% | 3 days ago 62% | 3 days ago 55% |
| TrendMonth ODDS (%) | 3 days ago 45% | 3 days ago 53% | 3 days ago 53% |
| Advances ODDS (%) | 3 days ago 44% | 3 days ago 57% | 3 days ago 55% |
| Declines ODDS (%) | 7 days ago 43% | 5 days ago 46% | 7 days ago 34% |
| BollingerBands ODDS (%) | 3 days ago 45% | 3 days ago 57% | 3 days ago 41% |
| Aroon ODDS (%) | 3 days ago 47% | 3 days ago 44% | 3 days ago 25% |
Advertisement
WMT and
Correlation & Price change
A.I.dvisor indicates that over the last year, WMT has been loosely correlated with COST. These tickers have moved in lockstep 66% of the time. This A.I.-generated data suggests there is some statistical probability that if WMT jumps, then COST could also see price increases.
| Ticker / NAME | Correlation To WMT | 1D Price Change % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WMT | 100% | +2.15% | ||
| COST - WMT | 66% Loosely correlated | +1.28% | ||
| BJ - WMT | 38% Loosely correlated | -0.18% | ||
| PSMT - WMT | 36% Loosely correlated | +3.26% | ||
| TGT - WMT | 30% Poorly correlated | +3.17% | ||
| TBBB - WMT | 21% Poorly correlated | +2.19% | ||
More | ||||