Walmart shares gain for a second straight session on Thursday, retailer ties up with Microsoft in its bid for TikTok

Walmart Inc (WMT) said on Thursday that it intended to tie up with Microsoft Corp in the software giant’s bid for TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance.

The Chinese company has been discussing the potential sale of TikTok’s operations in Australia, New Zealand and North America to companies such as Microsoft and Oracle.

According to Reuters, citing knowledgeable sources, the sale could be worth between $25 billion and $30 billion.

Walmart shares closed higher for a second consecutive trading session in New York on Thursday. It has also been the sharpest single-session gain since July 7th. The stock went up 4.54% ($5.93) to $136.63, after touching an intraday high at $139.33, or a fresh all-time high.

Shares of Walmart Inc have risen 14.97% so far in 2020 compared with a 7.85% gain for the benchmark index, S&P 500 (SPX).

In 2019, Walmart’s stock went up 27.58%, thus, it underperformed the S&P 500, which registered a 28.88% gain.

“We are confident that a Walmart and Microsoft partnership would meet both the expectations of U.S. TikTok users while satisfying the concerns of U.S. government regulators,” the world’s largest retailer said in a statement, cited by Reuters.

The Trump administration has pressured ByteDance to sell its TikTok operations in the United States, because the huge amount of private data it is compiling on US users is regarded as a potential risk to US national security.

Analyst stock price forecast and recommendation

According to CNN Money, the 32 analysts, offering 12-month forecasts regarding Walmart Inc’s stock price, have a median target of $146.50, with a high estimate of $160.00 and a low estimate of $105.00. The median estimate represents a 7.22% upside compared to the closing price of $136.63 on August 27th.

The same media also reported that at least 20 out of 34 surveyed investment analysts had rated Walmart Inc’s stock as “Buy”, while 6 – as “Hold”. On the other hand, 1 analyst had recommended selling the stock.