Gilford Securities Reiterates Buy Rating on Wal-Mart Stores

In a report published Friday, Gilford Securities reiterated its Buy rating on Wal-Mart Stores

. Gilford Securities noted, “We believe Walmart had a strong holiday season and that WMT will rebound to its high near $78 and possibly go beyond $80 after results are reported on Feb. 21, 2013. Based on visits to Wal-Mart 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. We would hesitate to generalize based on local observations but Wal-Mart 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 Stores closed on Thursday at $67.85.