Walmart shares close lower on Tuesday, retailer to hire over 3,000 US drivers for its “in-home” delivery service

Walmart Inc (WMT) said earlier this week it intended to hire over 3,000 delivery drivers in the United States and to build a fleet of fully-electric delivery vans in support of its “in-home” grocery delivery service.

Currently, the US retailer employs about 100 drivers and services 6 million homes. It said it expected to reach about 30 million homes by the end of this year.

Walmart’s InHome delivery service was launched in 2019 and includes the delivery of groceries and other items straight into customers’ homes. At times, workers will place items directly into kitchens or garage refrigerators when owners are not at their homes.

All drivers use a one-time access code to unlock the clients’ doors or garages via an app that couples with a “smart” entry lock.

Walmart shares closed lower for a second consecutive trading session in New York on Tuesday. The stock went down 1.83% ($2.65) to $142.00, after touching an intraday low at $141.76. The latter has been a price level not seen since December 28th ($140.60).

Shares of Walmart Inc have retreated 1.86% so far in 2022 compared with a 0.57% gain for the benchmark index, S&P 500 (SPX).

In 2021, Walmart’s stock went up 0.37%, thus, it again underperformed the S&P 500, which registered a 26.89% gain.

Analyst stock price forecast and recommendation

According to TipRanks, at least 14 out of 17 surveyed investment analysts had rated Walmart Inc’s stock as “Buy”, while 3 – as “Hold”. The median price target on the stock stands at $172.53.