Jefferies Upgrades Wal-Mart to Buy

Shares of Wal-Mart Stores (NYS: WMT) is outshining the broader Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEX: ^DJI) in end-of-week trading, rising 1.2% Friday as the rest of the Dow fell 0.1%.

Wal-Mart has said it expects to see strong sales this holiday season. Investment banker Jefferies agrees, explaining in its write-up that Wal-Mart's "turnaround story" is more than just "easy sales comparisons." Indeed, the analyst thinks sales momentum will continue when Q3 results roll out, leading to upward EPS revisions, and crediting the company's strategy of building "high-return smaller-format stores" for the uptick. International operations are also expected to improve.

WMT earnings estimates at Jefferies are rising to $4.93 for the current fiscal year, followed by growth to $5.50 per share in fiscal 2013.

It uprgraded the stock from hold to buy with a price target of $88, up from $74.

The article Jefferies Upgrades Wal-Mart to Buy originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Rich Smith has no positions in the stocks mentioned above. The Motley Fool has no positions in the stocks mentioned above. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Copyright © 1995 - 2012 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.