Walmart Inc (WMT)

He doesn't think there's a recession around the corner. In the consumer staples space, he'd favour WMT for continued mid-cycle economic growth.  

Great-looking chart. Hard to go wrong with this one. Grocery business has helped them with the digital competition from everywhere else; gets the foot traffic in there. Fantastic internal adjustments have helped them to lower prices and increase margins. Kind of a no-brainer for some $$. Yield is 1%.

Valuation is too high, though they are successful. They need to go upscale a bit.

One his favourite names. The consumer will trade down to them when the economy weakens, but the stock is expensive now.

Due for a pullback, would buy on weakness. 

People buy this when the economy looks weak. But what gives him pause is that over 50% of their revenues come from groceries, which offer only 2% margins, yet trades around 25x PE.

Their e-commerce is strong. Today, an analyst said they could have $14 billion in ad revenue by 2030. He likes most their Walmart+ membership which offers discounts to hotels, flights, etc, making it perhaps the most attractive loyalty program.

Their price rollbacks are a smart move to appeal to the frugal consumer, and their stores have never looked better.

Announced a 3-for-1 stock split last January, then shares rose 18%. Two strong quarters helped.

Worrisome narrative that the lower-end demographic is having a lot of trouble and is pulling back. Usually think of it as doing well during poor economic times, but there's erosion from the bottom up. 55% of total revenue is from groceries, and that's a low margin business. In this nervous environment, rich at 25x PE.

Very large company with established business model. Good proxy on state of economy. Unsure on how company will grow - very large already. However, if interest rates fall - company will see increase in sales. Overall, is a defensive name. Not much growth, but not much downside either. Would prefer a name like Target. 

Recent stock split irrelevant to investors. Underlying business performance most important factor in valuation. Comparing to options in tech sector, can be difficult to justify investment (valuation way too high). Would look elsewhere. 

A juggernaut. Great CEO. Keeps selling at low prices. Always a good time to buy this.

Premier company, never trades cheaply. Executes well. Inflation on food has helped, and inflation has driven shoppers to seek cheaper items for discretionary purchases. Great online presence, continues to grow. Powerful.

Retail advantage: unmatched store and traffic reach. Also, they have such scale, they can collect massive data and harness that data using AI to better predict their business.