Symbotic price target lowered to $54 from $60 at Craig-Hallum

Craig-Hallum analyst Greg Palm lowered the firm’s price target on Symbotic (SYM) to $54 from $60 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares after Walmart (WMT) announced plans yesterday to automate its food distribution centers by adding new technology to 10 of its nearly 50 current or planned facilities. The firm’s work leads it to believe that Walmart will be initially using a different supplier, a competitor to Symbotic named Witron, says the analyst, who confirmed that Witron has either completed or is involved with three of these facilities and assumes that they have also gotten the order for the other six or seven. The firm believes it’s too soon to conclude that all this perishable business from Walmart will eventually go to Witron, but is lowering its price target to reflect a slightly lower valuation multiple to consider the current environment and overhang on the broader industrial space in general.