The Dividend Daily

On Friday analysts at Gilford Securities reported that they believe Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (WMT) saw strong sales this holiday season and believe the discount retail giant’s shares will rebound after its fourth quarter report.

The analysts reaffirmed their rating on WMT as a “Buy” and believe shares will rebound to an all-time high of $78 and possibly break the $80 threshold after the Q4 report is released on February 21.

“Based on visits to Walmart stores, mostly on Long Island, and observing traffic and seasonal departments, we surmise sales were up significantly over a year ago, despite the hardship caused by Hurricane Sandy,” a Gilford Securities analyst comments. “We would hesitate to generalize based on local observations but Walmart announced that it had its best Black Friday and that layaways were greater than a year ago. In addition, we believe food and consumables sales benefited from sharper pricing and that apparel departments had a good sell-thru across much of the US.”

Wal-Mart shares were down slightly during trading on Friday. The stock is up +13.97% year-to-date.

The Bottom Line
Shares of Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) have a 2.34% dividend yield, based on an intraday stock price of $68.09. The stock has technical support in the $65-$66 price area. If the shares can firm up, we see overhead resistance around the $70-$72 price levels.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (WMT) is not recommended at this time, holding a Dividend.com DARS™ Rating of 3.4 out of 5 stars.

Be sure to visit our complete recommended list of the Best Dividend Stocks, as well as a detailed explanation of our ratings system here.