[NEW JERSEY] Walmart is on track to join the “elite” crop of companies with a trillion-dollar valuation, after its announced partnership with OpenAI powered the stock to a record high, said Mizuho analyst David Bellinger.
The alliance with the Sam Altman-led company was unveiled on Tuesday (Oct 14), and will enable Walmart shoppers to browse and purchase products directly on ChatGPT by clicking a “buy” button.
While the offering will not include fresh foods, customers will be able to purchase items like packaged foods, apparel and more from both Walmart and its Sam’s Club chain.
Walmart shares jumped 5 per cent on the news, their biggest one-day gain since April when tariffs were paused, bringing its market capitalisation to more than US$854 billion.
The stock was up about 0.6 per cent in premarket trading on Wednesday (Oct 15).
The retail giant is “clearly ahead of the curve here, while others have been slow to adapt or even made efforts to block artificial intelligence web crawlers”, said Bellinger in a note.
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He called the tie-up “a major step forward in the adoption and broader acceleration of agentic commerce”.
Cracking the trillion-dollar threshold would vault Walmart into a rare group of stocks, one that remains overwhelmingly dominated by technology names.
Of the 11 other stocks that are currently worth US$1 trillion or more, only Berkshire Hathaway and Saudi Aramco sit outside the tech sphere.
The OpenAI pact highlights Walmart’s ability to “remain at the cutting edge of technology”, said Citigroup analyst Paul Lejuez. While OpenAI has other retail partners, including Etsy and Shopify, the Walmart partnership is “unique”.
The deal adds to what is already a bullish setup for Walmart shares, despite lingering questions about the state of the US economy, said Bellinger, who has a “buy” rating on the stock.
“Shares can still work in a lukewarm economy, and combined with early or developing initiatives, represent a must-own name” in the consumer space, he said.
Walmart shares have been on a tear for much of the last three years as the retailer captured more market share, thanks in part to its low prices attracting shoppers who are increasingly prioritising value.
After gaining more than 11 per cent in 2023, the Bentonville, Arkansas-based firm jumped nearly 72 per cent last year, its biggest annual gain since 1998.
“The market has recognised the advantages of Walmart’s combination of tech and old-school retail model,” said John Zolidis, president and founder of Quo Vadis Capital. BLOOMBERG
