00:00 Josh
Well, great, Walmart is the next company to join the trillion dollar club. Currently valued at just over $900 billion, the stock would need to rise about 11% to reach the trillion-dollar milestone. Remember, the stock is up more than 20% in 2025. So does that mean it could hit $1 trillion this year? Joining me now, we’re UBS food retail analyst Michael Lasser. Michael, nice to meet you. So, we ask you, will Walmart be the next $1 trillion company? Well, we’re already sitting here with Michael, uh, worth $913 billion and, you know, the stock is up 25% in the past year. Maybe starting here, Michael, it’s interesting that the transformation that’s happened at Walmart over the past few years helps explain this run, helps explain why we’re having this conversation? What changes has top management made in terms of priorities and strategy?
01:13 Michael Russell
Thanks Josh. Two things changed that resulted in Walmart’s very good financial results and stock price performance. First, the company spent much of the 2010s investing heavily in areas such as e-commerce and click-and-collect to build some of its foundational businesses. These investments are starting to pay off handsomely. Second, the retailer has maintained stable performance at a time when the rest of the retail industry has experienced significant volatility. Therefore, it looks like an oasis in a challenging environment. We believe the result of these factors means Walmart shares continue to move higher.
02:22 Josh
You know, you mentioned e-commerce, Michael. I’m just curious, Michael, how do you see e-commerce as a market and where it evolves from here and what’s Walmart’s role and opportunity compared to Amazon?
02:40 Michael Russell
So, uh e-commerce will continue to grow. Certain categories are currently driving e-commerce growth, such as food, consumer goods, and penetration in these categories should continue to rise. This is good for retailers like Walmart, which has a 20% market share in the U.S. food retail market. Therefore, we believe consumers are showing a tendency to want to purchase goods in these categories through Walmart, and it will maintain e-commerce growth of over 20% for a long time. So we think Walmart still has the advantage at this level.