Walmart Stock (WMT) Soars as ’Thrill of the Hunt’ Lures High-Income Shoppers

Walmart's latest earnings reveal an unexpected twist—affluent shoppers are flocking to the discount giant, driving WMT shares to new heights.

The High-Roller Hunt

Forget luxury boutiques—today's wealthy consumers are scoring deals in Walmart's aisles. This 'thrill of the hunt' mentality is pushing revenue numbers that'd make even traditional retail analysts raise an eyebrow.

Market Momentum

WMT's surge defies conventional retail wisdom—proving that even in volatile markets, value still wins. The stock's performance leaves hedge fund managers scrambling to justify their overpriced ESG picks.

Retail's New Reality

While Wall Street debates inflation metrics, smart money's already moved to where the actual shopping happens. Another reminder that sometimes the best investment thesis is just following where people actually spend their cash—fancy algorithms optional.

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Discount Winners

Michael Gunther, head of insights at Consumer Edge, took to the CNBC airwaves to state that value and discount retailers such as Walmart, Dollar General (DG) and Dollar Tree (DLTR) are benefiting from high-flyer business.

“They are seeing an outsize share of their new shoppers being those from a high income,” he said. “We’ve seen it in the lastest quarter and into August. This is trade down. It is relative to their overall customer bases.”

All three of those stocks have already performed strongly this year – see below:

Gunther said that it could be that high income consumers are “holding up better” than those with lower incomes because of higher asset prices. This, presumably, refers to property prices and investments such as stocks and shares.

Deal Seekers

Nevertheless, he argued that despite being in a better position they are still looking to manage their spending and looking for deals.

“They like the thrill of the hunt. It’s also an indication of the efforts these companies have put into attracting high end consumers with expanded assortments,” he said.

Refurbished stores and faster e-commerce and home deliveries are also likely to have tempted more high-end demand to Walmart, at least.

“Luxury isn’t turning round. There is a middle ground where consumers are pushing back on these price increases,” he said.

Indeed on pricing at Walmart and rival Target he said increases to date have been “rangebound.” He added: “It’s not been broad-based yet. We will see if that continues to hold as inventories whittle down. But, overal spending is holding up relatively well. It’s better than feared.”

Is WMT a Good Stock to Buy Now?

On TipRanks, WMT has a Strong Buy consensus based on 29 Buy ratings. Its highest price target is $127. WMT stock’s consensus price target is $114.07, implying a 11.72% upside.