New York, Jan 7, 2026, 17:53 EST — After-hours
KeyBanc raised its price target on Walmart Inc (WMT) to $128 from $120 on Wednesday and kept an Overweight rating, a brokerage term that signals it expects the stock to outperform peers. Walmart shares were down 1.4% at $112.72 in late after-hours trading. The stock hit $112.11 at the session low and topped out at $114.64, leaving the $112 area in focus into Thursday.
U.S. stocks ended mixed after hitting intraday highs, as investors weighed weaker labor data ahead of Friday’s government payrolls report. “Investors have come into 2026 with a similar playbook to last year: Buy tech and forget about it,” said Jake Dollarhide, chief executive of Longbow Asset Management. Reuters
Food retailers are still leaning on promotions to pull shoppers, and that is rippling across the sector. Albertsons cut its annual forecast on Wednesday after pointing to aggressive holiday discounts from larger rivals including Walmart, Target and Kroger. Evercore ISI analyst Michael Montani said “competitive pressure from Walmart, Clubs and hard discounters isn’t making it any easier” for competitors to stabilize share and margins. Reuters
Walmart’s last earnings update in November showed U.S. comparable sales — which strip out the impact of new store openings — rose 4.5% in its fiscal third quarter. It also reported 28% growth in U.S. e-commerce sales, while global e-commerce grew 27% and its global advertising business rose 53%.
In the same report, Walmart raised its full-year forecasts, projecting net sales growth of 4.8% to 5.1% and adjusted earnings per share of $2.58 to $2.63. “Holiday is off to pretty good start,” Chief Financial Officer John David Rainey said on the post-earnings call. Reuters
But the math gets tougher if discounting intensifies and cost inflation sticks, especially in general merchandise where margins are thinner. A weaker labor market could also test how long higher-income demand can keep carrying discretionary categories.
Walmart’s next scheduled update is at the ICR Conference on Jan. 13, followed by its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings on Feb. 19. Investors will be listening for any shift in guidance on pricing, online growth and margins after the holiday quarter.
