Walmart Plans to Expand Technology Unit, Hire 5,000 Professionals

Walmart, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) is planning to expand its technology unit, Walmart Global Tech, further by hiring about 5,000 tech professionals globally and opening two new hubs in Toronto and Atlanta. The American multinational retail company operates a chain of hypermarkets, discount department stores and grocery stores.

The company is hiring cybersecurity professionals, architects, developers, software engineers, data scientists, data engineers, technical program managers and product managers.

Meanwhile, Walmart has chosen Toronto and Atlanta for their growing tech presence and connection to Walmart. Further, it plans on investing about $1 billion in Canada to bolster technology and refurbish local stores.

Initially, the company will hire 45 full-time associates, primarily software developers, product managers and technical program managers, in Toronto. Whereas, it will employ 140 data scientists and software engineers in Atlanta.

With the addition of these two new hubs, Walmart will have a total of 17 tech hubs, spanning from Silicon Valley and Northwest Arkansas to Dallas and India. 

Stock Rating

Recently, Evercore ISI analyst Greg Melich maintained a Hold rating on Walmart with a price target of $140 (4% downside potential from current levels).

The analyst said, “Building back traffic, leveraging their scale, passing through inflation while keeping price gaps, and tech investments to spur growth; Walmart remains a force to reckon with, and smart competitors and investors will take notice.”

Based on 17 Buys and 7 Holds, the stock has a Moderate Buy consensus rating. The average Walmart price target of $163.39 implies 12.1% upside potential from current levels. Shares have gained 11% over the past year.

News Sentiment

News Sentiment for Walmart is Very Positive based on 78 articles over the past seven days. All the articles have Bullish sentiment, compared to a sector average of 63%, and none have Bearish Sentiment, compared to a sector average of 37%.

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