Dow Today: Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) Higher

Nov 23, 2012 12:00 PM EST

Editor's Note: TheStreet ratings do not represent the views of TheStreet's staff or its contributors. Ratings are established by computer based on metrics for performance (which includes growth, stock performance, efficiency and valuation) and risk (volatility and solvency). Companies with poor cash flow or high debt levels tend to earn lower ratings in our model.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ( ^DJI) is trading up 103 points (+0.8%) at 12,939 as of Friday, Nov 23, 2012, 11:35 a.m. ET. During this time, 158.3 million shares of the 30 Dow components have changed hands vs. an average daily trading volume of 617.4 million. The NYSE advances/declines ratio sits at 2,242 issues advancing vs. 595 declining with 116 unchanged.

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The Dow component leading the way higher looks to be Wal-Mart Stores (NYSE: WMT), which is sporting a 99-cent gain (+1.4%) bringing the stock to $69.88. This single gain is lifting the Dow Jones Industrial Average by 7.49 points or roughly accounting for 7.3% of the Dow's overall gain. Volume for Wal-Mart Stores currently sits at three million shares traded vs. an average daily trading volume of 7.2 million shares.

Wal-Mart Stores has a market cap of $231.57 billion and is part of the services sector and retail industry. Shares are up 15.3% year to date as of Wednesday's close. The stock's dividend yield sits at 2.3%.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. operates retail stores in various formats worldwide. It operates retail stores, restaurants, discount stores, supermarkets, supercenters, hypermarkets, warehouse clubs, apparel stores, Sam's Clubs, and neighborhood markets, as well as walmart.com; and samsclub.com. The company has a P/E ratio of 14.2, below the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7.

TheStreet Ratings rates Wal-Mart Stores as a buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its solid stock price performance, growth in earnings per share, revenue growth, good cash flow from operations and increase in net income. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company shows low profit margins.