Published: December 9, 2025 – All figures as of the U.S. close on December 8 unless otherwise noted.
1. Quick Take: How Walmart Stock Looks Going Into December 9
Walmart Inc. (ticker: WMT) heads into Tuesday’s session with three big storylines converging at once:
- A historic exchange switch from the New York Stock Exchange to the Nasdaq.
- Fresh SEC filings after the bell on December 8, including a formal NYSE delisting notice and a large but internal Walton family share transfer.
- A stock that remains near record highs, backed by strong earnings and rich valuations.
On Monday, Walmart closed at about $113.56, down roughly 1.3% on the day, after trading between about $112.30 and $115.00. Volume was elevated at nearly 22 million shares. [1]
That leaves the stock just below its all‑time high closing price of $115.11 set on December 5 and not far from a recent 52‑week intraday high around $116.27. [2] Over the past month Walmart shares are up around 12%, and roughly 25–28% year to date, depending on the data provider. [3]
In after‑hours trading on December 8, WMT changed hands only a few cents below the regular-session close, around the low $113 area, indicating no major post‑close shock despite the new filings and legal headlines. [4]
2. Monday’s Close: Price Action and Market Tone
A modest pullback from record territory
- Close: ~$113.56
- Change: about ‑1.35% vs. Friday’s record close near $115.11. [5]
- Intraday range: ~$112.30 low to just under $115 high. [6]
- Volume: ~21.9 million shares, above the recent average. [7]
Even after Monday’s pullback, Walmart still trades:
- Near its all‑time closing high. [8]
- At a market cap around $915–920 billion, according to recent filings and quote services. [9]
Implied volatility on Walmart options sits near 20.5% with an IV rank around 11%, suggesting the options market is pricing in only moderate near‑term volatility relative to the stock’s own history. [10]
3. The Big After‑Hours Story: Walmart Files to Delist From the NYSE
The most important after‑the‑bell development on December 8 was regulatory, not operational.
Form 25: Formal delisting from the NYSE
At about 4:30 p.m. ET on Monday, Walmart filed a Form 25 with the SEC, formally notifying regulators that it is removing its common stock and several note issues from listing and registration on the New York Stock Exchange under Section 12(b) of the Exchange Act. [11]
Key details:
- The filing covers Walmart common stock (par value $0.10) plus nine bond issues maturing between 2026 and 2039. [12]
- The filing states that Walmart has complied with all NYSE rules and SEC requirements for a voluntary withdrawal from listing. [13]
- It is signed by Gordon Y. Allison, a senior vice president and chief counsel for finance and governance, dated December 8, 2025. [14]
This Form 25 does not mean Walmart is going dark or leaving U.S. exchanges; it is the legal mechanism required for the already‑announced transfer to Nasdaq.
Nasdaq listing goes live on December 9
In a prior press release, Walmart confirmed that:
- Its stock will begin trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on December 9, 2025, under the same ticker “WMT.” [15]
- Nine outstanding Walmart bond issues will also move to Nasdaq. [16]
- Management frames the move as aligned with a “technology‑forward” and AI‑powered omnichannel strategy, emphasizing automation, robotics, and data‑driven retail. [17]
A widely shared analysis from Motley Fool notes that, by market value, Walmart is set to become the largest company ever to switch its primary listing to a different U.S. exchange, calling the December 9 move a “history‑making” event. [18]
Why it matters for Tuesday:
- Technical flows: Some NYSE‑tied index products will need to tweak exposure, while Nasdaq‑linked strategies may gradually increase allocations.
- Nasdaq‑100 potential: Commentators note that Walmart’s size and liquidity make eventual inclusion in the Nasdaq‑100 highly likely at a future rebalancing, though nothing is guaranteed or immediate. TechStock²
- Perception shift: Being grouped more visibly with tech‑heavy Nasdaq peers reinforces Walmart’s narrative as a “people‑led, tech‑powered” platform, not just a traditional big‑box chain. [19]
For traders, the first Nasdaq session could feature above‑average volume and some order‑flow noise as algos, ETFs and passive funds adjust.
4. Insider Moves: Walton Family Trust’s 668,000‑Share Distribution
Another post‑close filing that hit on Monday was a Form 4 from the Walton Family Holdings Trust, a long‑standing major shareholder.
- On December 4, 2025, the trust distributed 668,000 Walmart shares to a beneficiary for $0 consideration – an internal transfer, not an open-market sale. [20]
- After the transaction, the trust still beneficially owns about 528.9 million Walmart shares. [21]
StockTitan, which summarized the filing, characterizes the impact as “low” and notes that it reflects estate or trust‑related movements, not a change in overall insider conviction. [22]
For investors, the key takeaway is that no new supply was dumped into the market—this was a re‑labeling of ownership within the Walton family structure.
5. Legal Overhang: Florida Hospitals’ Opioid Case Ends in Mistrial
Late on December 8, Reuters reported that a Florida judge declared a mistrial in a long‑running case brought by 16 hospitals against Walmart, CVS and Walgreens over opioid dispensing. [23]
Highlights:
- Jurors deliberated for 14 days but couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict. [24]
- The hospitals alleged the pharmacy chains helped “flood the state with opioids,” driving up uncompensated care costs. [25]
- Walmart called the evidence “flimsy” and said it is confident it will prevail when the case is retried. [26]
- Plaintiffs’ counsel said they hope to schedule a new trial as soon as April 2026. [27]
From a stock perspective:
- A mistrial is better than an adverse verdict, but it extends the legal overhang.
- There is no immediate financial penalty, yet the headline reminds investors that opioid litigation remains a background risk for large pharmacy operators and retailers.
So far, the market reaction has been muted, suggesting investors see the case as manageable relative to Walmart’s size and diversified earnings base.
6. Fundamentally, Why Is Walmart Near Record Highs?
The current share price is built on an impressive streak of operational and strategic wins.
Strong Q3 2026 results and upgraded guidance
In mid‑November, Walmart released fiscal Q3 2026 results (quarter ended October 31, 2025) and raised its outlook again: [28]
- Revenue: ~$179.5 billion, up 5.8% year over year (about 6% in constant currency).
- Adjusted EPS: around $0.62, modestly ahead of consensus.
- Global e‑commerce sales:+27%, led by store‑fulfilled pickup & delivery and marketplace volume.
- Advertising revenue: global ads up ~53%, with Walmart Connect U.S. up about 33%.
- Membership & other income: up roughly 9%, including mid‑teens growth in membership income (e.g., Walmart+ and Sam’s Club).
- Guidance raised:
- Net sales growth for FY26 now 4.8–5.1%, up from roughly 3.75–4.75%.
- Adjusted operating income expected to grow about 4.8–5.5% in constant currency.
A separate deep‑dive from Simply Wall St notes that over the last 12 months: [29]
- Net profit margin improved from 2.9% to 3.3%.
- Trailing 12‑month net income rose ~16.4% to $22.9 billion, while revenue climbed about 4.5% to $703.1 billion.
In other words, earnings are growing faster than sales, thanks to:
- Rapid expansion of higher‑margin businesses like ads, marketplace fees and membership.
- Ongoing automation and AI investments, which management says are starting to improve productivity across logistics and merchandising. [30]
Holiday momentum and omnichannel strength
Walmart’s early holiday and Black Friday update showed the company leaning hard into fast fulfillment and digital integration: TechStock²+1
- Store‑originated online orders on Black Friday were up more than 50% year over year.
- Orders delivered in under three hours increased by over 40%, with Walmart citing ultra‑fast deliveries in minutes in some cases.
- The Walmart app saw record in‑store usage, with app users spending more than non‑app shoppers on average.
Retail analysts see these data points as confirmation that Walmart’s omnichannel flywheel is working, particularly among higher‑income shoppers who value speed and convenience. [31]
7. Valuation Check: How Expensive Is Walmart Now?
The main debate heading into the December 9 Nasdaq debut is valuation.
Premium multiples vs. peers
According to recent fundamental screens and narrative analysis: [32]
- Walmart trades at roughly 40× trailing earnings, versus about 26× for many consumer‑retail peers and roughly 20–21× for the broader U.S. consumer retailing group.
- A discounted cash‑flow (DCF) estimate from Simply Wall St puts fair value around $110–111 per share, modestly below the current spot price, suggesting the stock embeds some optimism about further margin gains. [33]
- Over the last month, the stock is up double digits, and year‑to‑date gains sit in the high‑20% range. [34]
A comparison from 24/7 Wall St highlights that: [35]
- Walmart’s net income grew about 33% year over year in a recent quarter, with e‑commerce up 27%,
- While the stock trades around 40× earnings, rival Costco sits closer to 49×, despite slower e‑commerce growth, underscoring Walmart’s perceived “growth‑plus‑defense” profile.
Street forecasts and price targets
Aggregated analyst data (StockAnalysis, MarketBeat, and other trackers) show a broadly bullish but not euphoric view: Stocktwits+3TechStock²+3MarketBeat+3
- Coverage: ~30 analysts follow WMT.
- Consensus rating: generally around “Buy” to “Strong Buy.”
- Average 12‑month price target: roughly $118–119, implying mid‑single‑digit upside from current levels.
- Target range: low targets near $90–$95, highs around $125–130 after recent raises by Tigress Financial, Morgan Stanley, Piper Sandler and others.
On the fundamentals:
- Street consensus expects FY26 revenue around $720 billion, up about 5–6% from last year, and FY27 revenue near $755 billion, up another ~5%. TechStock²
- EPS is projected to climb from around $2.66 this year to roughly $2.99 next year, implying low‑to‑mid‑teens earnings growth. TechStock²+1
Zacks currently tags Walmart as a Rank #3 (Hold) but gives it a Momentum Score of B and notes that nine analysts have raised FY26 EPS estimates in the last 60 days, with the consensus nudging higher to about $2.63 per share. [36]
Separately, long‑term projections suggest Walmart could generate over $30 billion in annual free cash flow by 2030, fueling ongoing investments and shareholder returns, but that scenario is increasingly priced into today’s valuation. [37]
Dividend and defensive appeal
Walmart continues to pay a regular dividend, with recent data implying a yield just under 1% at current prices—small in absolute terms, but meaningful when combined with earnings growth and the company’s reputation as a defensive retail anchor. [38]
8. What to Watch Before the December 9, 2025 Open
Here are the key checkpoints for traders and investors heading into Tuesday’s first Nasdaq session:
1. Opening print and volume on Nasdaq
- First Nasdaq quote: Watch where WMT opens relative to Monday’s NYSE close (~$113.56). [39]
- Volume spikes: Expect heavier‑than‑usual turnover early in the session as:
- Index funds, ETFs and quant strategies rebalance between NYSE and Nasdaq venues.
- High‑frequency traders arbitrage small discrepancies between venues and derivatives.
Short‑term moves may be technical rather than fundamentally driven.
2. Technical levels: support, resistance and “psychological” lines
Based on recent trading:
- Support zone: The ~$112 area (Monday’s intraday low) is the first nearby level bulls will want to defend. [40]
- Resistance:
If the Nasdaq debut attracts incremental buying, a clean breakout above the mid‑$110s would reinforce the momentum narrative; conversely, a decisive move back below $112 could signal short‑term exhaustion after a strong run.
3. Macro backdrop: The Fed and broader market sentiment
This week also brings a closely watched Federal Reserve decision, with investors debating the pace of 2026 rate cuts. TechStock²+1
- A dovish tone and reaffirmed easing path would generally support “quality growth” names like Walmart, which have benefited from lower discount‑rate assumptions.
- A surprise hawkish tilt or pushback against aggressive cut expectations could pressure high‑multiple stocks, including WMT, whose 40× earnings valuation leaves less room for disappointment. [43]
4. Holiday updates from Walmart and peers
Investors will be listening for any mid‑season commentary from Walmart, Target, Costco and major e‑commerce players on: TechStock²+224/7 Wall St.+2
- Traffic and basket trends in grocery and general merchandise.
- The mix between value‑seeking lower‑income shoppers and higher‑income households trading up at Walmart.
- How much “buy now, pay later” and other credit tools are supporting discretionary spending.
Because Walmart already raised guidance on the back of strong early trends, any sign of holiday fatigue could hit the stock harder than peers.
5. Ongoing AI and automation narrative
Analysts and the financial press have increasingly framed Walmart as an AI and automation story: [44]
- The company’s “Sparky” AI shopping assistant and internal generative AI tools are highlighted as future margin drivers.
- Warehouse automation partnerships and owned manufacturing (like its new dairy facilities) are meant to tighten supply chains and protect margins.
- The Nasdaq move itself is being pitched as emblematic of this tech‑heavy evolution.
Investors will be looking for tangible proof that these initiatives translate into sustained margin expansion, not just headlines.
6. Legal and regulatory headlines
The Florida opioid mistrial removes the risk of an immediate adverse verdict, but the prospect of a retrial in 2026 keeps the issue alive. [45]
This is unlikely to drive Tuesday’s open on its own, but any future settlement discussions, appeals, or parallel litigation could re‑emerge as catalysts.
9. Bottom Line: How to Frame Walmart Before the December 9 Open
Putting it all together, heading into the first Nasdaq session:
- Price & Momentum: Walmart is just below all‑time highs, with strong momentum over the last month and year, but it pulled back modestly on Monday. [46]
- Fundamentals: Recent quarters show mid‑single‑digit sales growth and double‑digit earnings growth, powered by e‑commerce, advertising and membership—and management has raised FY26 guidance twice this year. [47]
- Valuation: At roughly 40× earnings and a DCF value close to current levels, Walmart is not cheap; optimism about margin expansion and AI‑driven efficiencies is already embedded in the price. [48]
- Newsflow: Monday’s after‑hours headlines—NYSE delisting, Walton trust share transfer, and an opioid-case mistrial—are incremental pieces in a larger story rather than thesis‑breaking shocks. [49]
For short‑term traders, the focus today is likely to be on:
- Nasdaq opening prints and volume,
- Price action around the $112–$116 band, and
- Whether the exchange switch sparks fresh momentum or prompts near‑term profit‑taking.
For long‑term investors, Walmart remains a case of:
- A dominant, diversified retailer with strengthening digital and ad businesses,
- A credible path toward even larger scale (including the possibility of trillion‑dollar market cap in the coming years if growth and multiples hold), [50]
- Balanced against a premium valuation that may warrant patience or a preference for buying on pullbacks rather than chasing every new high.
As always, whether Walmart fits your portfolio depends on your time horizon, risk tolerance and diversification needs. Today’s Nasdaq debut is historic—but over the long run, execution on earnings, margins and cash flow will matter far more than the logo on the exchange banner.
References
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