Wal-Mart’s Holiday Hours Sales May Signal Opportunity, Analyst Says

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. may be a good stock to buy because the world’s largest retailer has easy comparisons this holiday shopping season, according to Adrianne Shapira, an analyst for Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

“The opportunity is that unlike everyone else who had a strong Christmas last year, they did not,” Shapira said on “Surveillance Midday” with Tom Keene on Bloomberg Television today. Wal-Mart outperformed during the recession and lagged last year, said Shapira, who recommends buying the stock.

Sales at U.S. Wal-Mart stores open at least a year fell 1.3 percent in the quarter ended Oct. 31, the sixth straight quarter of decline, as traffic shrank from last year. At an October investor presentation, Chief Executive Officer Mike Duke predicted U.S. comparable sales in this quarter would be “positive.”

Wal-Mart, based in Bentonville, Arkansas, rose 29 cents, or less than 1 percent, to $53.60 at 4:01 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares were little changed this year, compared with a 13 percent gain for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.

Read more... Wal-Mart’s Holiday Hours Sales May Signal Opportunity, Analyst Says