New York, March 1, 2026, 12:12 EST — Market closed
- Walmart shares ended higher on Friday, bucking a broader market slide as investors leaned into defensive names.
- Bank of America reinstated coverage with a Buy rating, pointing to delivery speed and a growing digital business.
- Traders are watching U.S. jobs and retail sales data due March 6 for the next test of consumer demand.
Walmart Inc (WMT.O) shares rose 2.84% to $127.95 on Friday, outpacing the broader market ahead of the new week. The stock traded between $125.14 and $128.60, with about 29.2 million shares changing hands. 1
That matters now because February ended with investors pulling back from riskier pockets of the market and moving toward defensives. The Dow fell 1.05% on Friday, the S&P 500 lost 0.43% and the Nasdaq dropped 0.92%, while consumer staples and other defensive sectors outperformed; Carson Group’s Ryan Detrick called it “a classic risk-off environment” — trader shorthand for a shift toward perceived safer assets. 2
With U.S. markets shut for the weekend, attention flips to the next set of catalysts. The monthly U.S. jobs report and a retail sales update are due Friday, March 6, and Reuters polling showed expectations for 60,000 jobs added; BNY’s John Velis said the market is “pretty much treading water” as investors try to sort AI winners from losers. 3
A bullish analyst call helped set the tone for Walmart into the close. Bank of America reinstated coverage of large-cap U.S. retail on Friday, naming Walmart and Costco as preferred holdings while taking a more bearish view on Target; analyst Christopher Nardone wrote Walmart is “gaining share with the upper income consumer through faster delivery offerings” while serving lower-income shoppers with everyday-low-price positioning. He pointed to Walmart’s $150 billion digital business — 21% of sales — and said e-commerce profitability and incremental margins of 10% to 15% could support earnings per share, or EPS, over time and “allow the multiple” — the valuation investors pay for earnings — to rise. 4
A separate filing added another data point for investors who track insider activity. A Form 4 showed the Walton Family Holdings Trust sold a combined 1,723,236 Walmart shares on Feb. 26-27 at weighted average prices from $127.1188 to $128.0593 — roughly $220 million at those reported prices — and distributed 303,000 shares to a beneficiary. 5
There is also a legal overhang that can resurface quickly in a headline-driven tape. Walmart agreed to pay $100 million to settle FTC and state allegations tied to earnings claims in its Spark Driver delivery program and is barred from further misrepresenting earnings in delivery offers; FTC consumer protection director Christopher Mufarrige said, “Labor markets cannot function efficiently without truthful and non-misleading information about earnings and other material terms.” 6
What could go differently: if next week’s data revives rate-cut hopes and risk appetite snaps back, defensives like Walmart can lose relative support even if fundamentals do not change much. On the other hand, another hot inflation print or softer jobs data could keep investors cautious and keep the focus on steady cash generators.
Bank of America’s Buy view also came with a $150 price target, according to TipRanks — implying about 17% upside from Friday’s close. That upside case leans on e-commerce margins showing up in results rather than staying a story. 7
When markets reopen on Monday, traders will watch whether Walmart holds Friday’s breakout and whether the defensive bid stays in place. The next hard catalyst is Friday, March 6: the U.S. jobs report and retail sales data, with retail earnings from Best Buy and Target also on deck as investors hunt for clean reads on demand.
