Buy Wal-Mart Stocks Now

As the world's biggest retailer with a market cap of over $190 billion, Wal-Mart is more than just a discount store.

With its fingers in nearly every area of the economy, the retail behemoth is the ultimate consumer spending bellwether — which by the way accounts for over 70% of U.S. GDP.

That being said, what goes on in the store after folks pass the greeter tells us more about the state of Consumerville than any other piece of data. That's how important the king of the big box has become to the U.S. economy over the years.

In fact, the Bentonville-based company is now so big that it's the 6th largest Chinese importer and the world's largest grocery chain. And that doesn't even take into account the fact that it is also the largest publicly-held U.S employer.

So, when the CEO of the discounter talks about the state of the economy, people tend to notice. And through it all, shares of Wal-Mart Stores stock rise and fall with these same economic tides.

Wal-Mart's Economic Outlook

However, when the CEO of Wal-Mart Mike Duke took out his crystal ball two months ago, green shoots weren't anywhere in it.  

Battered consumers, according to Duke, were buying cheaper cuts of meat, spending more on vitamins to avoid trips to the doctor, and buying flat-panel televisions instead of taking vacations.

"In talking to our customers all across the country," Duke said, "I think there is still a lot of stress." Moreover, the CEO predicted, "It's not a V recession, where we'll just bounce out and come back. This is one that is going to take a sustained change in the way that families live."

Duke, who took charge of the world's largest retailer on Feb. 1, also said Wal-Mart shoppers are buying in cycles, spending more when they get paid and cutting back when money runs low. On top of that, he said more customers are using cash, which supports the recent uptick in consumer savings.

So, welcome to the new frugality.

In case you haven't heard, it's all the rage these days, as consumers even skimp at the big box with the smiley face.

That has cast a cloud over the retail giant, leaving investors to worry how Wal-Mart's sales will measure up. It's always about winning the expectations game on Wall Street.

And in a new, free six-page report, The Wealth Advisory research team has broken down the tech giant, answering the question on every investor's mind these days. . .

Is Wal-Mart Stock (WMT) a Buy, Sell, or Hold?

In this free report, Wealth Daily subscribers will receive:

The results from The Wealth Advisory's proprietary scoring model

A buy, sell, or hold recommendation

  A 12-month Price Target along with a current Stop/Loss

 A technical and fundamental analysis of the company's share price

 And much more. . .

To receive a free download of this report and our Buy, Sell, or Hold recommendation for Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

I hope you enjoy your free Wal-Mart Inc. stock report. I'll be publishing many more of these in the weeks to come. . .

By the way, according to the data released on Tuesday, U.S. consumer confidence took an unexpectedly steep slide in June. The index fell to 49.3 in June from 54.8 in May, while economists were expecting a healthier reading of 55.0 for the month.

Meanwhile, even the President has predicted the unemployment rate will be north of 10% this year.

So much for the idea that the recession will be ending anytime soon.