Wal-Mart upgraded as international sales continue growing


Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) has been alone as a shining retail star in the recent economic recession. Consumers flocked to every possible bargain they could in every industry, and Wal-Mart cleaned up in retail with its bargain basement pricing on everything from toilet paper to car batteries to Doritos.


But that's not the whole story: Wal-Mart is also cleaning up with its international sales at the same time. So much so that HSBC analyst Francisco Chevez has upgraded his rating on the world's largest retailer to outperform, with a target price of $50.92. Chevez indicated that Wal-Mart's growing power in Brazil, India, China and Russia will continue making it an international force to be reckoned with. One of these days, Wal-Mart's international sales will beat its U.S. sales.

We all knew this day was coming, right? The market outside the U.S. is much larger than inside the U.S. -- it's just taken time for Wal-Mart to feel out all the individual variables with global markets and take its time to enter them successfully, with or without a partner. Wal-Mart, after all, can't grow at its recent torrid pace in the U.S. for much longer. It's nearly saturated the U.S. with big boxes as it is, and the remaining markets it has not entered will continue to put up a long and costly fight. So, Wal-Mart will just go into India and Russia with force instead.

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