Walmart's NASDAQ Switch Could Change Everything for WMT Stock

There’s something different about Walmart Inc. (NASDAQ: WMT) this holiday season, and it has nothing to do with the health of the consumer. On Dec. 9, the company began publicly trading on the NASDAQ exchange. But what does this mean for an investor?

At a surface level, nothing’s changed. WMT stock is up slightly since the announcement, but that’s part of a trend that’s been in place for five years, and in fairness, you could go back 10 years or more. In fact, since it first began trading on the NYSE, the stock climbed over 536,000%.

However, this move isn’t about where Walmart has been but more about where it’s going. Over the past decade, Walmart has made strategic investments in robotics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. The move to the NASDAQ is the company’s way of attracting investors who might not view WMT as a technology stock.

Here’s Why Investors Should Expect More of the Same

Walmart has been one of the best retail stocks investors could have owned. It became part of the Dow 30 in 1997 and has been there ever since. By the way, that’s not going to change. That means that Walmart stock will still be a bellwether for the consumer and the economy at large.

Over the last few years, in the face of consumers stressed by sticky inflation and, more recently, uncertain tariff policies, the company has managed to deliver value to consumers at all price levels.

It’s also rewarded shareholders with stock buybacks, a stock split, and a safe dividend that has a modest yield and has increased for 53 consecutive years. On its last day as an NYSE stock, WMT stock had a market cap of over $905 billion. That makes this the largest stock exchange transfer in history.

Will Walmart’s Perception Shape Investors' Reality

So why the switch? Walmart wants investors to view the company as a tech-focused, AI-first company, more so than the world’s largest legacy retail chain. The NASDAQ is known as the technology index. It’s the home of all the Magnificent Seven stocks, and it’s the place for companies that want to redefine their industries based on technological innovation.

It's fair to say that Walmart has done that. Some may argue that Walmart is following the lead of Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN). If so, the company has closed the gap considerably. Chief financial officer (CFO) John David Rainey remarked that Walmart “is setting a new standard for omnichannel retail by integrating automation and AI to build smarter, faster, and more connected experiences for customers, while enabling our associates to deliver even greater value at scale.”

Should You Buy WMT Stock or Sell the News?

Walmart’s valuation certainly supports its inclusion in the NASDAQ. As of Dec. 10, the company’s price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio was 40.3x. That’s higher than the aforementioned AMZN stock. It’s also higher than Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT). In fact, it’s only slightly lower than NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA), which has a P/E ratio around 45x.

The chart looks extended, but not particularly vulnerable to a deep pullback. Since the company’s earnings report in November, the stock is at new highs that are being supported by rising volume.

The slope of the stock’s 20- and 50-day simple moving averages (SMAs) is decisively upward. This usually indicates a strong intermediate uptrend rather than a blow-off top.

That said, the relative strength indicator is over 70, and the MACD is starting to look tired. It’s entirely possible that a cooling-off period is in order. But that would likely align with the 20-day SMA as primary support and the 50-day SMA as secondary support. That would fit the pattern of prior consolidations on the chart.

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The article "Walmart’s NASDAQ Switch Could Change Everything for WMT Stock" first appeared on MarketBeat.