Walmart shares hit a record after its inclusion in the Nasdaq-100. It is targeting tech giants

Walmart shares rose 3% on Monday, January 12, and reached an all-time high of $117.97 after it became known that they will be included in the Nasdaq-100 index. Walmart's market capitalization has increased by nearly a third over the past year to $940 billion, making it the 11th most valuable U.S. company.

Walmart shares will join the Nasdaq-100 starting Jan. 20, the exchange said Friday. The retail giant's securities will replace pharma company AstraZeneca, which was the 16th-weighted company in the index with a capitalization of $290 billion.

Inclusion in indexes increases the attractiveness of stocks because purchases are amplified by the funds that track them. In the case of the Nasdaq-100, that includes a popular fund such as the Invesco QQQ Trust ETF, CNBC points out .

While Nasdaq describes the index as a sample of the one hundred largest non-financial companies, it is often perceived by investors as "technology-oriented" due to the fact that the 11 largest components by weight, which make up more than 70% of the entire structure, are technology companies, MarketWatch notes.

A month ago, Walmart moved its stock listing from the New York Stock Exchange, where it had traded for more than five decades, to Nasdaq. The company attributed the move to a desire to synchronize its strategy with a "technology-driven approach to retailing."

Over the weekend, Walmart and Google announced the launch of a new shopping format using artificial intelligence: through the AI model Gemini, users will be able to find and buy products from the chain's stores. All of this is being realized on the basis of the new Universal Commerce Protocol initiative, an open standard for AI-driven commerce, which Walmart claims was developed by the retailer itself.

The company cites an example: if a user asks Gemini to recommend camping gear, the system will display items from Walmart's inventory and offer a link to purchase. "Moving from traditional web or app-based search to agent-driven commerce is the next big step in the evolution of retail," said newly appointed Walmart CEO John Ferner, who will take office Feb. 1. - We're not just watching the change - we're shaping it.

In October, Walmart announced a similar partnership with OpenAI: shoppers were able to place orders via ChatGPT with instant payment.

The retail giant's bet on AI seems logical, writes MarketWatch. A recent Salesforce report says that customers who came to e-commerce sites on the recommendation of AI agents had nine times higher purchase conversion rates than those who came from social media.

Over the year, the securities of the largest U.S. retailer rose by 29%. For comparison, the Nasdaq-100 index added 24% over the same period, and the S&P 500 broad market index - 19.6%.

40 of 44 analysts tracking Walmart stock recommend buying it, according to MarketWatch. And only two recommend holding in a portfolio. At the same time, the Wall Street consensus price target is only 5% higher than current quotes - it is $124.4.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor