Retailer Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT) looks to maintain its title of “World’s largest retailer” when the company reports fourth-quarter financial results before the market opens on Thursday, Feb. 20.

Here’s a look at the analyst estimates for the quarters, what experts are saying and key items to watch.

Earnings Estimates: Analysts expect Walmart to report fourth-quarter revenue of $180.25 billion, up from $173.39 billion in last year’s fourth quarter, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

The retailer has beaten analyst estimates for revenue in more than 10 straight quarters.

Analysts expect the company to report earnings per share of 64 cents, up from 60 cents per share in last year’s fourth quarter.

The company has beaten analyst estimates for earnings per share in four straight quarters and nine of the last 10 quarters overall. The lone quarter without a beat in that stretch saw the company meet estimates.

Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) recently reported fourth-quarter revenue of $187.79 billion. Analysts expect Walmart to come in shy of that total, which could see the company lose its crown as the top revenue earner on a yearly basis and the top retailer soon if trends continue.

Read Also: Walmart Stock Hits New All-Time Highs, Company Goes Shopping For … Malls?

What Experts Are Saying: Walmart’s quarterly earnings report will likely be one of the biggest of the week, according to Freedom Capital Markets Chief Global Strategist Jay Woods.

“Walmart will be in focus as investors are eager to see if they can keep their remarkable run going,” Woods said in a weekly newsletter. “They have traded higher after the last four quarterly reports and after 8 of the last 10.”

The market strategist said Walmart is “the bellwether when it comes to discount retail.”

“Any shift from them could speak volumes to the impact of inflation.”

Woods said Walmart shares are in a technical uptrend with the stock traded at or above its 50-day moving average for more than a year.

“So for it to jump higher may take one heck of a beat.”

Woods said long-term holders of the stock should “hold on and enjoy the ride,” while short-term traders might see it tough to chase the stock.

Data from Placer.ai shows Walmart had 1.1% visitor growth in 2024 on a year-over-year basis. The company is also starting 2025 with strength with visits up 3.0% year-over-year for the month of January.

Walmart sees a larger portion of shoppers with lower household incomes than rival Target, according to Placer.ai. The retailer also sees a higher rate of repeat monthly visitors than Target, which could be thanks to more grocery options.

Analysts have been bullish on Walmart stock ahead of the quarterly earnings with raised price targets.

Here are recent analyst ratings on Walmart and their price targets:

• Piper Sandler: Maintained Overweight rating, raised price target from $93 to $118
• Baird: Maintained Outperform rating, raised price target from $100 to $115
• Barclays: Maintained Overweight rating, raised price target from $98 to $108
• Morgan Stanley: Reiterated Overweight rating, raised price target from $106 to $115
• Telsey: Maintained Outperform rating, raised price target from $105 to $115
• Truist: Maintained Buy rating, raised price target from $98 to $111

Key Items to Watch: Walmart raised its full-year guidance after third-quarter results and investors will be closely monitoring to see if those figures are missed, met or beat.

Analysts and investors will also be looking for guidance for the next fiscal year. This could determine how Walmart stock trades after the financial results.

Ecommerce sales is another area investors will look at. Third-quarter ecommerce sales are up 27% year-over-year as the company sees growth for its store-fulfilled pickup, delivery and marketplace growth.

The company’s Sam’s Club brand is also seeing strong growth in recent quarters. Third-quarter same store sales are up 7.0% year-over-year. Placer.ai data showed Sam’s Club having 4.8% visitor growth year-over-year for the 2024 year.

In February, Walmart announced some employee consolidation with the cut of corporate jobs and relocations to other states. The company’s headcount and any comments on future job cuts is another area to watch.

WMT Price Action: Walmart stock trades at $103.85 Wednesday versus a 52-week trading range of $57.60 to $105.30. Walmart stock is up 15.4% year-to-date in 2025 and up 77% over the last year.

Read Next:

• How To Earn $500 A Month From Walmart Stock Ahead Of Q4 Earnings

Image: Shutterstock

Whales with a lot of money to spend have taken a noticeably bullish stance on Apple.

Looking at options history for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) we detected 21 trades.

If we consider the specifics of each trade, it is accurate to state that 66% of the investors opened trades with bullish expectations and 28% with bearish.

From the overall spotted trades, 4 are puts, for a total amount of $144,280 and 17, calls, for a total amount of $865,330.

What’s The Price Target?

Analyzing the Volume and Open Interest in these contracts, it seems that the big players have been eyeing a price window from $200.0 to $275.0 for Apple during the past quarter.

Insights into Volume & Open Interest

In today’s trading context, the average open interest for options of Apple stands at 12628.45, with a total volume reaching 84,766.00. The accompanying chart delineates the progression of both call and put option volume and open interest for high-value trades in Apple, situated within the strike price corridor from $200.0 to $275.0, throughout the last 30 days.

Apple Option Volume And Open Interest Over Last 30 Days

Biggest Options Spotted:

Symbol	PUT/CALL	Trade Type	Sentiment	Exp. Date	Ask	Bid	Price	Strike Price	Total Trade Price	Open Interest	Volume
AAPL	CALL	SWEEP	BEARISH	02/21/25	$2.18	$2.17	$2.17	$245.00	$96.1K	36.4K	13.5K
AAPL	CALL	SWEEP	BULLISH	02/21/25	$2.25	$2.24	$2.25	$245.00	$92.8K	36.4K	18.8K
AAPL	CALL	TRADE	BEARISH	01/16/26	$29.75	$29.55	$29.55	$240.00	$88.6K	6.5K	204
AAPL	CALL	SWEEP	NEUTRAL	02/21/25	$15.45	$15.3	$15.37	$230.00	$87.6K	17.1K	2.0K
AAPL	CALL	TRADE	BULLISH	06/20/25	$17.5	$17.45	$17.5	$240.00	$70.0K	19.1K	81

About Apple

Apple is among the largest companies in the world, with a broad portfolio of hardware and software products targeted at consumers and businesses. Apple’s iPhone makes up a majority of the firm sales, and Apple’s other products like Mac, iPad, and Watch are designed around the iPhone as the focal point of an expansive software ecosystem. Apple has progressively worked to add new applications, like streaming video, subscription bundles, and augmented reality. The firm designs its own software and semiconductors while working with subcontractors like Foxconn and TSMC to build its products and chips. Slightly less than half of Apple’s sales come directly through its flagship stores, with a majority of sales coming indirectly through partnerships and distribution.

Following our analysis of the options activities associated with Apple, we pivot to a closer look at the company’s own performance.

Current Position of Apple

• Currently trading with a volume of 7,971,037, the AAPL’s price is down by -0.21%, now at $243.95.
• RSI readings suggest the stock is currently may be approaching overbought.
• Anticipated earnings release is in 71 days.

Professional Analyst Ratings for Apple

Over the past month, 5 industry analysts have shared their insights on this stock, proposing an average target price of $246.466.

Unusual Options Activity Detected: Smart Money on the Move

Benzinga Edge’s Unusual Options board spots potential market movers before they happen. See what positions big money is taking on your favorite stocks. Click here for access.
* Consistent in their evaluation, an analyst from JP Morgan keeps a Overweight rating on Apple with a target price of $260.
* An analyst from Jefferies persists with their Underperform rating on Apple, maintaining a target price of $202.
* An analyst from Loop Capital downgraded its action to Hold with a price target of $230.
* Reflecting concerns, an analyst from Needham lowers its rating to Buy with a new price target of $260.
* Maintaining their stance, an analyst from Goldman Sachs continues to hold a Buy rating for Apple, targeting a price of $280.

Options are a riskier asset compared to just trading the stock, but they have higher profit potential. Serious options traders manage this risk by educating themselves daily, scaling in and out of trades, following more than one indicator, and following the markets closely.

If you want to stay updated on the latest options trades for Apple, Benzinga Pro gives you real-time options trades alerts.

Gainers

Symbol	Name	Price	Change ($)	Change (%)	Volume
(NYSE:XLE)	SPDR Select Sector Fund – Energy Select Sector	91.50	0.20	0.21	7.0K
(NYSE:XLP)	SPDR Select Sector Fund – Consumer Staples	80.93	0.03	0.03	1.4K

Losers

Symbol	Name	Price	Change ($)	Change (%)	Volume
(NYSE:XLY)	SPDR Select Sector Fund – Consumer Discretionary	225.8500	-0.52	-0.23	244
(NYSE:XLF)	SPDR Select Sector Fund – Financial	52.1000	-0.07	-0.14	247.1K
(NYSE:XLU)	SPDR Select Sector Fund – Utilities	79.7601	-0.08	-0.11	2.8K
(NYSE:XLK)	SPDR Select Sector Fund – Technology	242.0600	-0.10	-0.05	9.9K

Pulled from Benzinga Pro data the above sector movers alert assists traders in understanding macro-level trends and market variations. Traders will look for sector movers providing information on sectors that are over- or under-performing, deriving these results into investing decisions on exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or individual tickers in those sectors.

For more information on sector movers, click here.

Used car online retailer Carvana Co (NYSE:CVNA) looks to keep its streak of profitability and analyst beats intact when the company reports fourth-quarter financial results after market close Wednesday.

Here’s a look at the earnings estimates from analysts and key items to watch.

Earnings Estimates: Analysts expect Carvana to report fourth-quarter revenue of $3.31 billion, up from $2.42 billion in last year’s fourth quarter, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

The company has beaten analyst estimates for revenue in three straight quarters and five of the last 10 quarters overall. Meeting the analyst estimate would mark four straight quarters of revenue of $3 billion or more.

Analysts expect the company to report fourth-quarter earnings per share of 29 cents, up from a loss of $1.00 per share in last year’s fourth quarter. The company has beaten analyst estimates for earnings per share in three straight quarters and seven of the last 10 quarters overall.

The company has reported a profit per share in three straight quarters with 64 cents per share, 14 cents per share and 23 cents per share reported in the last three quarters respectively. The company previously reported quarterly losses per share.

Read Also: YieldMax Rolls Out New ETF For Investors To Tap Into Carvana’s Rally And Generate Income

Key Items to Watch: Momentum continues to be strong for Carvana, which has been one of the hottest turnaround stocks in recent years and also the subject to multiple short reports.

The stock saw a boost in its share price after Hindenburg Research announced it was closing shop with Carvana one of Hindenburg’s last-ever short report targets. Kerrisdale Research also announced a short report a year ago.

Carvana’s financial results and commentary could see the company take a victory lap against short sellers and call them out with improving profitability and financials.

A recent EV Trends Report from Carvana saw a leadership position in the used vehicle market with 5.7% of its used vehicles sold being electric vehicles, compared to 1.3% for the overall used car market.

Carvana could highlight this report and its growing presence in the electric vehicle market.

Analysts have been bullish on Carvana in recent months. In January, RBC Capital upgraded the stock from Sector Perform to Outperform highlighting a “remarkable turnaround” for the company in 2024.

Analyst Brad Erickson increased the Carvana price target from $270 to $280 and said analyst estimates might not be reflective of the company’s growing market share.

“We raise our estimates ~4% ahead of Street for Q4 and ~2% for 2025, and could still wind up overly-conservative,” Erickson said.

Erickson also said the retail marketplace could be a meaningful driver of unit growth over time for Carvana.

Here are other recent analyst ratings for Carvana and their price targets:

• Wedbush: Reiterated Neutral rating, with a $250 price target
• Stephens & Co: Reiterated Overweight rating, with a $300 price target
• JPMorgan: Maintained Overweight rating, raised price target from $300 to $350

Carvana sold 108,651 vehicles in the third quarter, up 34% year-over-year. This will likely be one of the key figures for the company along with its revenue and earnings per share. Carvana also reported a significantly higher profit per vehicle in the third quarter on a year-over-year basis, which is another key item for investors to watch.     

Shares of Carvana traded under $10 in May 2023 and under $5 in January 2023. The company faced investor concerns about potential bankruptcy in 2022 and 2023 due to its debt obligations.

Some investors recognized a potential turnaround and others saw a potential short squeeze with a high level of shares shorted due to the bankruptcy concerns.

The company restructured operations and debt and took on the task of turning things around.

Management is bullish on the company’s future in the highly fragmented used cars sector.

“With just 1% share in an enormous market, significant capacity to support growth, and a business that generates positive feedback as it scales, we are just getting started,” Carvana CEO Ernie Garcia said after third-quarter results.

CVNA Price Action: Carvana stock was down 0.3% to $284.53 on Tuesday. The stock hit new 52-week highs of $291.27 earlier in Tuesday’s trading session. The stock is up 42.6% year-to-date in 2025 and up over 449% in the last year.

Photo Courtesy: Shutterstock.com

Read Next:

• Carvana: Bumpy Ride Or Comeback Story? Here’s What The Technicals Suggest

The Nasdaq-100 surged to a fresh all-time high of 22,191.37 on Tuesday, as tech stocks continued their relentless climb. The Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ:QQQ), the most popular ETF tracking the index, also notched a new 52-week high of $540, reflecting the broader tech momentum.

Meta’s Unstoppable Streak

Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) has been on an absolute tear, closing higher for 20 consecutive trading sessions as of Friday. Although the stock was pulling back on Tuesday, down 3.8% at the time of publication.

Since Jan. 16, META stock has soared 16%, fueling the Nasdaq’s ascent. Given Meta’s decent weighting in the QQQ and other major ETFs, its rally has been a key force propelling both the tech-heavy Nasdaq and the broader market higher.

Read Also: Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta Stock Poised To Snap 19-Day Winning Streak As Overbought Conditions, Employee Layoffs Dampen Sentiment

AI, Earnings, Economic Resilience

The AI boom continues to be a dominant theme, with Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA), Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT), and Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG) leading the charge.

Strong corporate earnings have also played a pivotal role, as companies across the tech sector smash analyst expectations.

Meanwhile, economic indicators such as consumer spending and GDP growth are providing a sturdy foundation for investor confidence.

Read Also: Trump Launches Plan For ‘Reciprocal Tariffs:’ S&P 500 Nears Record Highs, Dollar Tumbles

The Fed Factor

Investors are betting that the Federal Reserve has reached the peak of its rate hike cycle. Lower interest rates would provide further fuel for the Nasdaq-100’s upward momentum, making growth stocks even more attractive.

Inflation shows signs of easing, fueling optimism that a more dovish Fed could support higher equity valuations.

Technical Breakout With More Upside?

According to Adam Turnquist, Chief Technical Strategist at LPL Financial, the Nasdaq-100 has decisively broken out of its December highs and could have more room to run.

“A minimum technical-based price objective sets up near 23,650,” Turnquist notes.

Additionally, relative strength versus the S&P 500 is improving, pointing to continued Nasdaq leadership.

ETF Winners Riding The Surge

Tech-heavy ETFs are reaping the benefits of the rally. Invesco QQQM (NASDAQ:QQQM) and the First Trust Nasdaq BuyWrite Income ETF (NASDAQ:FTQI) have seen steady gains, while the broader SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:SPY) has also climbed, albeit at a slower pace.

With tech stocks leading the charge and Meta’s unrelenting rally keeping the momentum alive, the Nasdaq-100 looks poised for more record-breaking action.

Read Next:

• S&P 500 Nears Another All-Time High: What’s Driving The Action?

Photo: Shutterstock

Gainers

Symbol	Name	Price	Change ($)	Change (%)	Volume
(NYSE:XLB)	Materials Select Sector SPDR	90.46	0.61	0.67	213
(NYSE:XLK)	SPDR Select Sector Fund – Technology	241.37	1.40	0.58	17.2K
(NYSE:XLE)	SPDR Select Sector Fund – Energy Select Sector	90.59	0.52	0.57	9.7K
(NYSE:XLY)	SPDR Select Sector Fund – Consumer Discretionary	227.72	0.72	0.31	773
(NYSE:XLV)	SPDR Select Sector Fund – Health Care	145.22	0.42	0.29	2.7K
(NYSE:XLF)	SPDR Select Sector Fund – Financial	51.94	0.14	0.27	112.9K
(NYSE:XLC)	The Communication Services Select Sector SPDR Fund	105.56	0.25	0.23	713
(NYSE:XLI)	SPDR Select Sector Fund – Industrial	137.82	0.27	0.19	749
(NYSE:XLP)	SPDR Select Sector Fund – Consumer Staples	80.75	0.14	0.17	5.5K
(NYSE:XLRE)	Real Estate Select Sector SPDR Fund (The)	42.07	0.01	0.02	3.0K

Losers

Symbol	Name	Price	Change ($)	Change (%)	Volume
(NYSE:XLU)	SPDR Select Sector Fund – Utilities	79.03	-0.07	-0.09	2.6K

Pulled from Benzinga Pro data this sector movers alerts can help traders understand macro-level market trends. Traders often look for sector movers to provide high-level analysis on which sectors are over- or under-performing to make better investing decisions on exchange traded funds (ETFs) or individual tickers in those sectors.

For more information on sector movers, click here.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) has outperformed the market over the past 5 years by 17.72% on an annualized basis producing an average annual return of 30.55%. Currently, Pure Storage has a market capitalization of $22.12 billion.

Buying $1000 In PSTG: If an investor had bought $1000 of PSTG stock 5 years ago, it would be worth $3,670.82 today based on a price of $67.80 for PSTG at the time of writing.

Pure Storage’s Performance Over Last 5 Years

Finally — what’s the point of all this? The key insight to take from this article is to note how much of a difference compounded returns can make in your cash growth over a period of time.

This article was generated by Benzinga’s automated content engine and reviewed by an editor.

Gainers

Symbol	Name	Price	Change ($)	Change (%)	Volume
(NYSE:XLE)	SPDR Select Sector Fund – Energy Select Sector	90.15	0.44	0.49	22.1K
(NYSE:XLY)	SPDR Select Sector Fund – Consumer Discretionary	228.23	1.13	0.49	6.6K
(NYSE:XLB)	Materials Select Sector SPDR	90.30	0.14	0.15	30.7K
(NYSE:XLF)	SPDR Select Sector Fund – Financial	51.78	0.08	0.15	60.3K
(NYSE:XLI)	SPDR Select Sector Fund – Industrial	137.99	0.10	0.07	1.3K
(NYSE:XLV)	SPDR Select Sector Fund – Health Care	146.50	0.11	0.07	3.7K
(NYSE:XLP)	SPDR Select Sector Fund – Consumer Staples	81.47	0.05	0.06	12.4K
(NYSE:XLU)	SPDR Select Sector Fund – Utilities	79.47	0.04	0.05	17.0K

Losers

Symbol	Name	Price	Change ($)	Change (%)	Volume
(NYSE:XLK)	SPDR Select Sector Fund – Technology	238.80	-0.36	-0.16	24.2K
(NYSE:XLC)	The Communication Services Select Sector SPDR Fund	104.64	-0.03	-0.03	1.1K

Pulled from Benzinga Pro data this sector movers alert provides traders with a compiled way to read macro-level market trends. Investors garner a particular interest in sector movers to better determine sectors that are over- or under-performing to make better investing decisions on exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or individual tickers in those sectors.

For more information on sector movers, click here.

Shiba Inu (CRYPTO: SHIB) continues its aggressive token burn strategy, aiming to reduce supply and drive price appreciation.

Cryptocurrency	Price	Market Cap	24-Hour Trend	7-Day Trend
Shiba Inu (CRYPTO: SHIB)	$0.00001646	$9.7 billion	+1.5%	+7.7%
Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE)	$0.2678	$39.7 billion	+4.4%	+5%
Pepe (CRYPTO: PEPE)	$0.00001013	$4.3 billion	+4.4%	+6.5%

Trader Notes: ‘Dogecoin millionaire’ Glauber Contessoto warns that the crypto market has become oversaturated with new meme coin launches, making it chaotic and difficult to navigate.

He believes early strategies of holding DOGE and SHIB were simpler, but now the market is flooded with tokens, often leading to dilution.

Technical Analysis: Benzinga technical analysis shows Shiba Inu’s RSI at 36.4, reflecting oversold conditions that could potentially lead to a price rebound.

The simple moving average chart shows the 100-day SMA trending higher than both the 50-day and 200-day SMAs, pointing to a medium-term bullish trend despite short-term price swings.

It also shows potential stability and continued growth in the asset’s value compared to shorter-term fluctuations.

Statistics: According to Arkham Intelligence data, an unknown whale recently withdrew 85.5 billion SHIB ($1.41 million), potentially influencing price movements.

Shibburn data shows 14.22 million SHIB was burned in the last 24 hours, pushing burn rates higher by 1,841.5%.

A single transaction involved the burning of 13 million SHIB.

IntoTheBlock data shows Shiba Inu’s large transaction volume spiking 92.5% and daily active addresses growing 1.61% in a single day.

Transactions greater than $100,000 increased from 77 to 94.

Shibariumscan data reports a increase in daily transactions from 4.63 million to 4.78 million.

Read Next: 

• Dogecoin Soars 218% In A Year While Shiba Inu Trails At 73%—What’s Driving the Gap?

Image: Shutterstock

Gainers

Symbol	Name	Price	Change ($)	Change (%)	Volume
(NYSE:XLE)	SPDR Select Sector Fund – Energy Select Sector	90.1000	0.390	0.43	13.5K
(NYSE:XLY)	SPDR Select Sector Fund – Consumer Discretionary	228.0400	0.940	0.41	5.3K
(NYSE:XLP)	SPDR Select Sector Fund – Consumer Staples	81.4853	0.065	0.08	388

Losers

Symbol	Name	Price	Change ($)	Change (%)	Volume
(NYSE:XLK)	SPDR Select Sector Fund – Technology	238.42	-0.74	-0.31	17.6K
(NYSE:XLU)	SPDR Select Sector Fund – Utilities	79.26	-0.17	-0.22	7.7K
(NYSE:XLC)	The Communication Services Select Sector SPDR Fund	104.52	-0.15	-0.15	814
(NYSE:XLI)	SPDR Select Sector Fund – Industrial	137.85	-0.04	-0.03	1.1K

Pulled from Benzinga Pro data this sector movers alerts can help traders understand macro-level market trends. Traders often look for sector movers to provide high-level analysis on which sectors are over- or under-performing to make better investing decisions on exchange traded funds (ETFs) or individual tickers in those sectors.

For more information on sector movers, click here.