How Walmart Made Its Comeback On Wall Street

Walmart has proven it won’t give up its market share without a fight. Last month, the retailer reported a 1.6% increase in U.S. comparable sales in the second quarter—a number head and shoulders above Target, Dollar General, and Dollar Tree. The reasons for the success are many: Walmart threw competitors off by aggressively cutting back prices; worker pay raises helped lift the retailer’s long-languishing customer service score; and multibillion-dollar investments in e-commerce, including its recent purchase of Jet.com, have boosted online sales. Walmart also revamped fresh food areas at thousands of stores and rolled out its own mobile payment app, as well as expanded its online marketplace. Walmart’s turnaround efforts have landed the company back in Wall Street’s good graces. Cowen & Co. analyst Oliver Chen on Monday raised Walmart’s rating from “market perform” to “outperform,” noting that the retailer is still early on its store upgrades and other projects. The company’s rising fortunes “should continue over the next two years as WMT makes more aggressive price investments [price cuts] and makes further improvements in the customer experience,” Chen said. Read more at Fortune.