Stock Market Podcast

The host, Jesselyn Bucato, discusses the intricacies of stock market performance, emphasizing the importance of diversifying one's portfolio. She mentions that Walmart's stock (symbol: WMT) is not currently a favorable investment option, as it has not been a long-term market leader. Walmart is a retail powerhouse with a diverse range of products, and its major shareholders are the Walton family. The current stock price is $60.44, with potential for an uptrend. Understanding market equilibrium and economic concepts is crucial for informed decision-making. Personal investment experiences highlight the importance of strategic decision-making and market awareness. Suppliers of Walmart may increase prices, affecting stock market prices and consumer demand. While the host holds Walmart stock, there has been minimal growth or loss. This exploration of Walmart's stock performance provides insights into the stock market and its impact on daily life. Hello, welcome to the Stock Market Podcast. I am your host, Jesselyn Bucato, a current economic student specializing in stock market analysis with three years of experience as an investor. And today I wanted to delve into the intricacies of loner stock performance and I wanted to examine its potential for profit or loss. Talking about my past experiences in regards to investing, I have some experience with shares in dividend stocks and real estate investments that includes stocks that give you some stipends if you would like to call them or for real estate it could be investing in commercial real estate or just your normal real estate, for example, the housing market. Learning from my experience in investment, I will say if you are new to buying stocks, make your portfolio as diverse as you find comfortable. I will say the benefit of this is in not having all your shares in one stock. I will say just having your money in different ones will help mitigate the risk and maximize opportunities, especially amidst market fluctuations. As mentioned before, I will be talking about Walmart and in the stock market language, Walmart's symbol is known as a simple WMT. Different companies might have different symbols, it just depends on the name of each. You might be wondering what is the benefit of learning about the stock market and to that I will say it is an opportunity to put your income to work in the market as opposed to holding it in a low-yield savings account which is going to bring just minimum benefits to your long-term financial gain. Another point to take in is the benefit of knowing the market since it affects your daily life without you noticing. It is the reason why you buy food in Walmart as opposed to Target and it could be the reason why there is higher interest in buying houses. Currently, it might be in your interest to know about the economy and which stocks are doing well or will in the future rise in price. On the other hand, it is important to know which ones are underpaying and to stay away from as well. An introductory stock is the S&P 500 which poses a good investment as it continues to advance and grow. It is a classic one to have in your portfolio and is associated with the symbol GSPC or INX. Talking about Walmart, it is not a favorable investment option. Not a lot of information indicating an upward rise in the price is available right now and as the financial analyst Michael Larkin, featured in Investor's Business Daily, stated that Walmart stock has not been a long-term stock market leader for many years and he stated this on January 4, 2021. Investors should focus on companies with peer earnings and strong stock performance and this is not it as of now. Analysts are giving Walmart high marks for the company's effort and execution in competing with Amazon but it remains to be seen whether this will be a significant impact on earnings and sales. In just to disclose, this episode may adopt a more liberal perspective. I just think it's important since for some, it might affect the way that I speak about the market and the way Walmart as a whole is performing. Some might find it important for me to say this. Moving on, in the second segment, I want to talk about Walmart's role as a retail powerhouse. Walmart offers a diverse range of products spanning from toys, apparel, groceries, and recently it has added pharmaceuticals to itself. It is now, I believe, adding some pharmacies into its stores and basically opening new pharmacies into the market. It is a significant market presence. It occupies a pivotal role in both the retail and produce sectors of the economy. Its major shareholders are the Walton family, which are the descendants of Sam Walton and he was the founder of the company. They are holding 50% of the company's share, stated by Daniel Pereira. He states this on March 23rd, 2023. I'm the business model analyst if you would like to read more about it. Transitioning to its financial metrics, Walmart's current stock price stands at $6044 as of May 9, 2024, according to data sourced from CNBC. Another important piece of information, stated by Saul Derrick on Forbes.com as of February 20, 2024. He has stated that the shares of Walmart jumped Tuesday following the Retail Giant's latest earnings report and sending Walmart's stock to its highest level in five-decade history as a public company. This proves that it is the remaining one of the top companies in the market as of now. And I would say it's not changing that, but it's also not meaning to be a safe investment for someone new to the market. Although it's safe for current holders, it's not a stock that you will invest and hope to get more gains in the future, as opposed to investing in other stocks that might bring you more profit. Any historical lows, the lowest end of the price was found in 1975, January 2nd, with a price of $0.007833, and the highest end price was of March 21st, 2024, with a price of $61.45. Observations suggest a potential uptrend in Walmart's stock value as the company refines its operational focus on reliability and cost-effectiveness. This strategy aims to enhance the customer experience and it just wants to optimize profitability. Something important to note while you're learning about the stock market is learning more about market equilibrium. It is pivotal in ensuring supply meets demand without any waste or shortages. Having a comprehensive grasp of economic concepts such as surplus, shortage, and equilibrium facilitates informed decision making in the stock market landscape. For example, the word shortage means that there's not enough of something available for everyone who wants it, and surplus is when there is more of something available than what people want to buy. For example, when there is an equal amount of product sold and product demanded, a graph of demand and supply will look like two lines, one for demand and one for supply, demonstrating the prices and the product demanded, and the meeting point will be in the middle, and that is the amount of supply and demand appropriate to diminish and waste the waste of goods or any order shortage for consumers. Another example could be negative externality, and for our case, in the case of Walmart, it will show the rest of customers going to Target instead of Walmart. This could cause a sudden shift of change in traffic for Walmart when customers attend other stores instead of Walmart, and that can make the amount of products sold to be too much, because it's remaining the same while there are not enough customers, and this will produce a customer, I mean a product producer surplus curve to appear in Walmart's market inventory. And this is possible right now or in the future because of the circumstances of the political climate and the boycotting movements also shown in the Starbucks decline in sales. As mentioned before, reflecting on personal investment experiences, my decision to engage with Walmart stock was predicated on its instability as a mature entity, offering a more predictable investment avenue amidst market uncertainties. While my short-term investment in Walmart yielded marginal fluctuations in stock value, it underscores the importance of strategic decision-making and market awareness in navigating investment landscapes effectively. Talking about the suppliers of Walmart, they have been talking about increasing their prices, and that is something I can also see in other stores in the market. This can cause trouble in stock market prices and could affect the amount of produce bought from them in regards to consumers. This can also be seen especially since the demand has changed due to income not being enough for emerging citizens. Currently, some cannot find themselves buying necessary produce. Nowadays, people have referred to Aldi or other cheaper alternatives and also have chosen to cut down on expenses overall. While I participated in buying stocks, my Walmart stock on April 10, 2024 was at a price of $60.62 per share. Now, the same stock is found at $60.44, with not a lot of growth or loss during the time held which does not support or contradict my conclusion of Walmart not being a stock that you would like to invest in. But, the lowest price since I have held the stock has been $58.85 on May 1, 2024. This project and guidance throughout the stock market and the way that producers and consumers interact have helped me feel more prepared for future investing and also made me more conscious of where my money goes. It helped to know more about how my contribution to society looks vice versa and knowing how different economies affect my daily life without me noticing. Finding information to explain concepts I didn't understand was fast in contrast to current updated information regarding specific companies. The reason I think this was something is because of the secrecy and competition in markets. Thank you for joining me in this exploration of Walmart's stock performance. Stay tuned for more insights and analysis on future episodes.