Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Nvidia, Alphabet, Meta – and now Walmart? The US discount retailer, once regarded as an old-fashioned old-economy stock, recently joined the $1 trillion (€840 billion) club that has long been the preserve of America’s mega-cap technology stocks.
Shares have almost tripled over the past three years, propelled by ecommerce growth, digital advertising and AI-powered initiatives – from ChatGPT integrations to its own Sparky shopping assistant.
As a result, Walmart’s valuation is striking. Bespoke Investment recently noted Walmart was trading at 49 times trailing earnings, “more like a high-growth tech stock” than a traditional big-box retailer. Similarly, Creative Planning strategist Charlie Bilello notes Walmart’s price-sales ratio is its highest since 2000, and that it trades on 39 times forward estimates – higher than Apple, Google parent Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft, Nvidia and Meta.
The move also reflects a broader shift in market leadership. Bilello refers to the “magnificent two” – Nvidia and Alphabet – as the only members of the so-called magnificent seven to outperform the S&P 500 since the start of 2025.
READ MORE
The recent bloodletting in software and wealth-management stocks vulnerable to AI disruption has left investors very focused on what Ritholtz Wealth Management’s Josh Brown calls “halo” stocks – heavy assets, low obsolescence.
Walmart, he argues, is a halo stock, a large, durable company that is well positioned to benefit from technological advances rather than be undone by them.
In other words, Walmart is now viewed as some kind of hybrid of Main Street and Silicon Valley – a halo stock that could thrive in the AI era, but one whose decidedly elevated valuation leaves little room for disappointment.
