The consumer has been increasingly under fire these last few years, as interest rates surge and inflation dominates the landscape. In fact, some described Christmas 2023 as a ”buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) Christmas.” That fact isn’t lost on retailer Walmart (NYSE:WMT), whose One arm is preparing to launch its own BNPL service at Walmart locations throughout the United States. Investors, however, weren’t pleased and sent Walmart shares down over 2.5% in Tuesday afternoon’s trading.
Basically, One—which Walmart is a majority owner of—is set to release BNPL options for Walmart’s over 4,600 stores. That’s going to give shoppers the option to buy now and pay later for bigger-ticket items like electronics and home appliances, among other things.
That, in turn, makes Walmart a direct competitor with Affirm (NASDAQ:AFRM), which has been providing Walmart customers with BNPL loans since 2019. In fact, it’s easy to wonder just how much longer Affirm will be providing those loans with Walmart advancing its own in-house operation.
Walmart Is Increasingly Embracing Automation
Meanwhile, Walmart is increasingly embracing automation in its operations. In fact, AI-driven forklifts are coming into play. Four distribution centers will see 19 FoxBot Class 1 electric forklifts put to work this year. It’s good news of a sort, thanks to a forklift operator shortage—the forklifts are autonomous, after all—but to think this is an anti-labor move isn’t difficult.
However, the company is moving away from automation in other parts of its operations. For instance, Walmart is pulling more self-checkout operations from stores. Last year, three New Mexico stores ditched the check stands, and now, Cleveland, Ohio, and St. Louis, Missouri, are out of the self-checkout game.
Is Walmart a Good Buy Right Now?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Strong Buy consensus rating on WMT stock based on 25 Buys and three Holds assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 17.04% rally in its share price over the past year, the average WMT price target of $65.73 per share implies 11.89% upside potential.
Is It Wise to Allocate $1,000 Toward WMT Stock Right Now?
Before you hurry to invest in WMT, think about the following:
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