Walmart shares close lower on Tuesday, retailer to introduce several private label clothing brands of its own

Four private label clothing brands will reportedly be introduced by Walmart Inc (WMT) next month, as the retailer attempts to expand its presence in the apparel industry and become more competitive against e-commerce giant Amazon.

Walmart shares closed lower for the first time in the past four trading sessions on Tuesday. The stock went down 1.72% ($1.60) to $91.52, after touching an intraday low at $91.51, or a price level not seen since February 22nd ($91.31).

In the week ended on February 25th the shares of the retail chain lost 11.35% of their market value compared to a week ago, which marked the third drop out of four weeks. It has also been the worst performance since the week ended on October 18th 2015.

The stock has extended its loss to 14.15% so far during the current month, following a 7.95% surge in January. The latter has been a fifth consecutive month of gains.

For the entire past year, the shares of the NYSE-listed retailer went up 42.87% following another 12.76% surge in 2016.

Walmart’s own private brands include kids apparel under the name Wonder Nation, Time and Tru women’s apparel brand, Terra & Sky plus-sized women’s clothing line, as well as men’s clothing brand under the name George.

The new brands are expected to be available at the retailers brick-and-mortar stores as well as on-line as early as March 1st.

After surveying 1 699 shoppers, Coresight Research concluded that the popularity of Amazon’s apparel category has grown considerably as of late, with customers interest being focused predominantly on item categories such as footwear and casual clothing.

In an attempt to meet rising on-line demand and spur growth in its clothing and accessories business, last year Walmart acquired several on-line brands such as Bonobos, Modcloth and Shoebuy.

According to CNN Money, the 30 analysts, offering 12-month forecasts regarding Walmart Inc’s stock price, have a median target of $108.00, with a high estimate of $126.00 and a low estimate of $72.00. The median estimate is an 18.01% surge compared to the closing price of $91.52 on February 27th.

The same media also reported that 16 out of 33 surveyed investment analysts had rated Walmart Inc’s stock as “Hold”, while 15 – as “Buy”.

Daily and Weekly Pivot Levels

With the help of the Camarilla calculation method, todays levels of importance for the Walmart stock are presented as follows:

R1 – $91.72
R2 – $91.93
R3 (Range Resistance – Sell) – $92.13
R4 (Long Breakout) – $92.74
R5 (Breakout Target 1) – $93.45
R6 (Breakout Target 2) – $93.73

S1 – $91.32
S2 – $91.11
S3 (Range Support – Buy) – $90.91
S4 (Short Breakout) – $90.30
S5 (Breakout Target 1) – $89.59
S6 (Breakout Target 2) – $89.31

By using the traditional method of calculation, the weekly levels of importance for Walmart Inc (WMT) are presented as follows:

Central Pivot Point – $94.02
R1 – $96.81
R2 – $100.72
R3 – $103.51
R4 – $106.29

S1 – $90.11
S2 – $87.32
S3 – $83.41
S4 – $79.49