Wall Street Brunch: Walmart Weighs In As Q4 GDP Hits

Wall Street Breakfast5.74M FollowersSubscribe5ShareSaveCommentsSummaryWalmart (WMT) reports Thursday, with Q4 EPS expected at $0.73 and revenue at $188.54B; same-store sales forecast to rise 4.2%.WMT aggressively integrates AI for efficiency, but valuation is seen as.Economic focus includes Q4 GDP (expected 2.8%, but possibly closer to 1.6%) and core PCE inflation data, both released Friday.Goldman Sachs launches a software pair-trade basket, favoring AI-resilient names like NET, CRWD, PANW, ORCL, and MSFT, while shorting those seen as more vulnerable. tupungato/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Listen below or on the go via Apple Podcasts and Spotify Walmart features in a holiday-shortened week with 57 S&P 500 reports. (0:17) Economists expect Q4 GDP growth near 2.8%. (1:10) Supreme Court could rule soon on Trump tariffs. (1:37) The following is an abridged transcript: It’s a holiday-shortened week for Wall Street, with markets closed Monday for Presidents’ Day — officially Washington’s Birthday, and observed as such by the NYSE. But in the four trading days, there’s still plenty on the calendar, with 57 S&P 500 (SP500) companies reporting results. Walmart (WMT) is the marquee name. The retail giant is expected to report fiscal Q4 EPS of $0.73 on revenue of $188.54B when it reports Thursday. Same-store sales are forecast to rise about 4.2%. Walmart also joined the $1T market-cap club last week. Seeking Alpha analyst Grassroots Trading says Walmart is aggressively integrating AI — including “Sparky” — to drive efficiency and profitability, narrowing the gap with Amazon (AMZN). But they rate the stock a Strong Sell, arguing the valuation looks extreme, with limited margin of safety if multiples revert. Also on the earnings calendar: Palo Alto Networks (PANW) and Medtronic (MDT) report Tuesday, followed by DoorDash (DASH) and Occidental (OXY) on Wednesday. On the economic front, the first look at Q4 GDP is due Friday, with economists expecting 2.8% annualized growth. Wells Fargo says the underlying fundamentals still look solid — but estimates growth could run closer to 1.6% if you factor in the government shutdown’s drag on headline activity. Also due Friday are the December income and spending figures, which include the core PCE price index — the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge. Core PCE is forecast to tick up to 3% year over year. In Washington, a Supreme Court ruling on President Trump’s tariffs could come as soon as Friday. The court has flagged three opinion days: Feb. 20, Feb. 24, and Feb. 25. Prediction markets indicate SCOUTS will rule against the tariffs. Kalshi implies about a 27% chance the court rules in favor, while Polymarket is around 26% as of today. In the news this weekend, Nvidia (NVDA) says CEO Jensen Huang won’t attend the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi “due to unforeseen circumstances.” But Nvidia said it remains “deeply committed” to the summit and to India’s rapidly advancing AI ecosystem. The event runs Feb. 16 through Feb. 20, and is expected to draw heads of state — including French President Emmanuel Macron — along with top tech leaders such as Sundar Pichai of Alphabet (GOOG) (GOOGL) and Sam Altman of OpenAI (OPENAI). For income investors, Chevron (CVX) goes ex-dividend Tuesday, paying out March 10. ConocoPhillips (COP) and Hasbro (HAS) go ex-dividend Wednesday — ConocoPhillips pays out March 2, and Hasbro pays March 4. And Microsoft (MSFT) goes ex-dividend Thursday, with a March 12 payout date. And in the Wall Street Research Corner, Goldman Sachs has launched a software pair-trade basket — going long on names it sees as more insulated from AI disruption, and short on those it sees as more vulnerable. On the long side are names such as Cloudflare (NET), CrowdStrike (CRWD), Palo Alto Networks (PANW), Oracle (ORCL), and Microsoft (MSFT). On the short side, Goldman flagged Monday.com (MNDY), Salesforce (CRM), DocuSign (DOCU), Accenture (ACN) and Duolingo (DUOL).This article was written byWall Street Breakfast5.74M FollowersSubscribeWall Street Breakfast, Seeking Alpha's flagship daily business newsletter, is a one-page summary that gives you a rapid overview of the day's key financial news. It is designed for easy readability on the site or by email (including mobile devices) and is published before 7:30 AM ET every market day.

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