Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) New Management Team May Capitalize On Global Opportunities By 2H10
Analyst Deborah L Weinswig of Citigroup upgrades Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE: WMT) from "hold" to "buy." The target price for WMT has been raised from $54 to $65.
According to Citigroup, “WMT’s negative traffic comp in 4Q09 served as an indication that WMT may be losing the customer it had gained during the recession by allowing the price gap with the supermarkets to narrow. WMT’s price savings no longer outweigh the experience and convenience of shopping the supermarkets. As the economy improves, we expect WMT to fight harder to keep this customer by sig. increasing rollbacks to drive mindshare and market share.”
Citigroup said that Wal-Mart Stores’ SVP/GM Apparel Dottie Mattison has been rebuilding her management team since shifting the headquarters of the apparel segment to New York in 2H07. “In the past 18 months, WMT brought in eight new VPs/SVPs (the last was just six weeks ago). We believe that this newly aligned team will help WMT capitalize on the sales and margin opportunity from global sourcing as early as 2H10,” the analyst says.
