Refile: BUZZ-Walmart hits record high on strong FY sales view, to buy Vizio for $2.3 bln

Vizio Holding

20/02/2024 15:08

(Corrects to remove extraneous word in bullet 9)
    ** Shares of retail bellwether Walmart  WMT.N  rise as much
as 6.5% to all-time high of $181.35
    ** Stock set for best day since November 2022
    ** Co forecasts fiscal 2025 sales largely above Wall Street
expectations and says it will buy smart-TV maker Vizio  VZIO.N 
for $2.3 billion
    ** Vizio shares up 15% at $10.94
    ** "Walmart has information..of the purchasing patterns of
90% of US households ... this (deal) is going to enhance that a
little bit more and ... give them a little bit better ...
information on ... spending patterns of the American public,"
says Christian Greiner, Senior Portfolio Manager at ZCM which
holds stake in Walmart
    ** WMT expects consolidated net sales in fiscal 2025 to rise
between 3% and 4%, the midpoint of which exceeds analysts' est.
of 3.4% growth
    ** Co also hikes annual dividend by 9%, largest increase in
over a decade
    ** Shares of Target  TGT.N  were up 1.6%, Kroger  KR.N 
jumps 2.5% and Costco  COST.O  rises 1%
    ** Separately, Home Depot  HD.N  shares were down 2.4% after
co expects FY results below analysts' est. 
    ** Walmart stock gained 11.2% in 2023

 (Reporting by Ananya Mariam Rajesh, Annett Mary Manoj in
Bengaluru)
 ((AnanyaMariam.Rajesh@thomsonreuters.com ; Twitter: https://twitter.com/AnanyaMariam))