I suppose I probably should asked before pulling the trigger - but interested in some thoughts on Walmart/WMT as more of, let's say, a "plugger" -- those sort of unexciting backbones that one figures over the long haul, provides a place to park money when nothing else looks like enticing.
On fairly stable large caps, I always seem to fall into this pattern -- I'm not at all a "charts guy", but falling below rolling averages is like catnip to me. So long as revenue and margin is growing (even below recent par), unless something else on my watchlist has my eye? I tend to see such equities as a "If in doubt..." buys.
I do understand why they got punished for the 10-Q - very stunted growth compared to the trailing data. I likewise think we do have some.... consumer chop - potentially even recession - on the horizon, which will obviously hurt someone like Walmart. Even with the recent price travails - the P/E and fwd P/E is hardly what you'd call enticing.
OTOH? The debt load is pretty reasonable - with rising rates, they're certainly not a DG or even a TGT. I also look at the big drag -- their pharma/health component - and think to CVS. Apples and oranges, I know -- CVS went full vertical and it just took longer than expected to reap the benefits -- but it's a tricky space and I tend to lean on the idea that nobody besides AMZN is better situated to leverage their way to figuring out the space.
Moreover? And - absolutely, you can get burned thinking this way - I don't really even shop Walmart, while I am Prime subscriber and do personally use it *relatively* often. However, I keep hearing a lot of friends/family (and additional anecdotal readings) that "Walmart+" *seems* to be overtaking Prime a bit. My indirect - and yes, anecdotal - experience seems to say that they're quite nicely eating into some demographics that other players owned.
I'm **not** a "buy the dip" guy. I **am** a Buffett/Munger "wouldn't want to own a stock for 5 minutes, I wouldn't see owning for 5 years" guy.
It just felt like a solid choice "if nothing else" for now. Wouldn't shock me if it's flat or even lower a year from now, but I'm thinking 3-5 years from now? At least... what I recorded in my own tracking sheet (I always capture my near/mid/longterm expectations and regularly revisit)? I think it will beat the S&P over that 3-5 years.
Willing to listen to people that would say I'm an idiot - but feels like a solid plugger...