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Walmart Inc. (ticker: WMT), the largest retailer by sales in the world today with US$657.33 billion in revenue and a market capitalisation of US$611.55 billion, had a humble beginning.
Founded in 1962 by Sam Walton in Rogers, Arkansas, the company was initially called 'Wal-Mart Discount City'. Walton envisioned discount stores as the future of retail. The opening of the first store promised customers low prices and marked the beginning of what would become a retail empire. By October 1970, Walmart had expanded to 38 stores and generated US$44 million in annual sales. The rapid expansion and increasing sales laid the foundation for Walmart's future as a retail giant. In 2018, the company transitioned from 'Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.' to 'Walmart'.
Today, Walmart is headquartered in Bentonville, Arizona and its operations span 24 countries with 10,500 establishments including 600 Sam's Club retail outlets, and employs approximately 2.1 million people. According to the Fortune Global 500 list for 2024, Walmart retained its No.1 position as the largest company by revenue in the world for the 11th consecutive year, while Amazon follows closely behind at No.2.
A CFD, or ‘Contract for Difference’, allows you to trade on price changes of financial instruments in actual market conditions without needing to own it. CFDs are offered across major markets, such as Forex, Commodities, Stock Indices, Bonds, ETFs (Exchange-Traded Funds), Digital Currencies, as well as Single Stocks.
Since CFD trading is leveraged, you can use a small amount of capital (margin) to gain larger exposure. For example, if Walmart’s share price is US$100 and you decide to go long (anticipating the market to rise) and buy 50 shares, this would cost US$5,000. Investing in Walmart Share CFDs with FP Markets has a margin requirement of 20%. This means instead of investing US$5,000 to purchase 50 shares (unleveraged), you would only need to ‘put up’ US$1,000 (US$5,000 * 0.2) with FP Markets. So, with this margin deposit, you would control the equivalent of US$5,000 worth of Walmart shares.
Here's how you can buy Walmart Share CFDs with FP Markets:
1. Open an FP Markets Forex and CFD Trading Account
One of the main advantages of opening an account with FP Markets is that you have a wide selection of trading platforms to choose from, such as MetaTrader 4 (MT4), MetaTrader 5 (MT5), cTrader, and TradingView, and it's a simple process.
Go to FP Markets' main webpage and click on the 'Open Live' tab in the upper right corner, as shown below.
You will be redirected to the page where you can fill in your details. The application process basically consists of five steps. This is also where you can choose the account type.
2. Download your Trading Platform
After completing your application, you will receive an email through your registered email ID containing your account details, including your trading account ID. You will then be able to enter the FP Markets Client Portal from where you can download the trading platform you prefer: MT4, MT5, cTrader, TradingView.
3. Find the Walmart Ticker
To select the Walmart ticker, make sure that you add Walmart to the Market Watch. Assuming you’re using MT5, you can use ‘Ctrl+M’ for the Market Watch to appear and type Walmart in the ‘click to add’ function as shown below. This will create an extra row for the Walmart stock.
Now, drag-drop the Walmart ticker to the chart's interface on the right. Once the chart is opened, you will see price updates in real time. You can now customise and modify the background colour, candles or bars, timeframes, etc., according to your preference.
Note that the process of selecting the ticker is similar in MT4 and MT5.
4. Place the Buy or Sell Order
Once you've done thorough research on Walmart, usually using a combination of fundamental and technical analysis, you can place your buy or sell order (the process is similar on MT4 and MT5).
One of the easiest ways to buy or sell a stock CFD on MT5 is to press F9. An order window will open as shown below, and you can proceed to alter components such as the volume, stop-loss, take-profit, etc.
Another method to execute trading orders is by using 'One Click Trading' (Alt+T). With this feature, traders can execute rapid positions in the stock after entering the trading volume (without any secondary confirmation). Also, note that stop-loss and take-profit order can only be added in the trading terminal (Ctrl+T) once the trade is active.
Here are a few examples of long and short positions in Stock CFDs:
Walmart's price chart on a daily timeframe from MT5 is shown below.
Walmart released its Earnings Report for Q2 2024 on August 15, 2024. According to the report, Walmart displayed an outstanding performance with a consolidated revenue of US$169.3 billion, up 4.8%, and an operating income of US$7.9 billion, up 8.5% (adjusted operating income up 7.2%). Walmart's net sales growth was US$115.3 billion, while Sam's Club and Walmart International reported US$22.9 billion and US$29.6 billion, respectively. Additionally, global eCommerce sales grew 21%.
Doug McMillon, Walmart's President and CEO, noted: 'Our team delivered another strong quarter. They work hard every day to help our customers and members save time and money. Each part of our business is growing – store and club sales are up, eCommerce is compounding as we layer on pickup and even faster growth in delivery as our speed improves. Our newer businesses like marketplace, advertising, and membership, are also contributing, diversifying our profits and reinforcing the resilience of our business model’.
According to the report, the company has issued guidance for the third quarter 2024, anticipating net sales growth of 3.25% to 4.25% and an increase in operating income of 3.0% to 4.5%, measured in constant currency.
Considering Walmart's strong track record and performance over the years, especially in this fiscal year, it could be a company worthy of the watchlist.
Physical Shares
In addition to CFDs, physical shares are another way to invest in Walmart.
When you buy shares in Walmart, you're effectively becoming a part owner of that company. As a shareholder with an equity stake, your investment returns depend on how well that company performs. Companies divide their stock into shares, which are sold to investors who become shareholders. These shareholders will also have voting rights and may receive dividend payments.
Simply put, when you own shares of Walmart, your returns depend on its success or failure. If Walmart performs well, your returns increase, and vice versa.
Options and Futures
Another alternative is investing in Walmart through futures and options.
Both futures and options are called derivatives as they derive their value from an underlying market. A futures contract creates an obligation to buy or sell physical goods at a future date at a specified price; on the other hand, an options contract creates a right but not an obligation to do the same.
Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs)
ETFs are another investment option. ETFs are bought and sold like shares on a stock exchange, but unlike shares, they are not individual companies. ETFs are investment funds that can invest in several assets, such as stocks, bonds, commodities, and real estate, among others. The value of an ETF generally represents the net asset value of all underlying investments held by that ETF.
ETFs diversify risk by creating a portfolio spanning multiple asset classes, sectors, industries, and security instruments. Since they trade like stocks, you can trade them anytime during market hours. Most ETFs disclose their holdings on a daily basis, which gives you transparency and trading flexibility.
It is important to note that by investing in an ETF that lists Walmart, the share price of Walmart and the ETF will not mirror each other exactly.
1. Does Walmart pay a dividend?
Yes, Walmart pays dividends. At the time of writing, the company offers an annual dividend yield of US$1.09.
2. What are the major differences between CFDs and physical shares?
A major difference is that CFDs allow you to trade the price movements of any market, without owning the underlying asset. With physical shares, the shareholder is a partial owner. This means that when you buy a share, you're typically buying a small part of that company.
Second, leverage is considerably different between CFDs and physical shares. The former offers greater leverage options than the latter.
3. Can I trade Walmart on MT4 or MT5?
With FP Markets, you can trade Walmart via CFD pricing on MT5 and cTrader.
Zadáním své e-mailové adresy vyjadřujete souhlas se zásadami ochrany osobních údajů FP Markets a v budoucnu budete od FP Markets dostávat marketingové materiály. Odběr můžete kdykoli odhlásit.
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