Retail

Wal-Mart Shares Up 2%, Leading Dow Performance

Douglas A. McIntyre

Published: January 24, 2016 9:12 am

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 2:40 pm

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 7.64% to 16,093.51 despite a furious rally that staged a partial recovery of the year’s performance, which happened late last week. The performance of the index has been so poor that only two of the 30 components are up so far this year. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) is the better of the two, up 2.27% to $62.69.

The other Dow component that has risen since the start of the year is Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ), which is 1.77% higher to $47.04. At the far end of the spectrum, flailing American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) shares have fallen 20.83% to $55.06. The credit card company offered a poor forecast for 2016.

There are two primary theories about why the world’s largest retailer has a stock that has done relatively well. The first is that all the bad news about Wal-Mart’s prospects is out: slow same-store sales, higher wages for employees, a very modest e-commerce presence eclipsed by Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN). The other plausible theory is that because of Wal-Mart’s size, brand and ability to buy goods at very low cost gives the company leverage that competitors do not have. As department store customers leave mid-sized retailers, they flee to either Amazon or Wal-Mart, for either low prices or convenience. Walmart.com may not have Amazon’s online reach, but according to comScore, its U.S. e-commerce traffic is second to Amazon’s.

Wal-Mart same-store sales for the holiday period and early 2016 will tell whether the theory that Wal-Mart is gaining share from department stores is true.

Some large group of investors like Wal-Mart’s prospects.