E-commerce giant Amazon, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) has emerged as a potent threat to brick-and-mortar stores over the years, as purchases began to shift online due to the convenience it offers. Not to be left behind, traditional retail stores have set up their own online operations in a bid to stay afloat.
Against this backdrop, here’s a look at how shares of the two retail juggernauts, Amazon and Walmart, Inc. (NYSE:WMT), have fared over the past year.
AMZN vs. WMT: A Comparative Analysis
Going by the stock performance, Walmart emerges as the true all-weather stock. Even amid the market downturn in 2022, the Bentonville, Arkansas-based company’s shares have held their own, as seen from the flattish trend seen in the final quarter of 2022.
Amazon, meanwhile, had a lackluster phase during the same period, as it fell along with the rest of the tech stocks in the final stretch of 2023. Although e-commerce is Amazon’s core business, the company has other revenue streams in the form of Prime Video subscriptions, Cloud computing business, and hardware and services sales. Pitching Amazon against Walmart, therefore, may not be an apples-to-apples comparison.
More importantly, Amazon is valued as a tech stock and not as a consumer discretionary stock.
As risk appetite returned to the market, Amazon’s shares rebounded by much more than Walmart’s and were on a steady uptrend until July before a wave of selling set in the next two months. Walmart, meanwhile, remained as steady as a rock, amid the August-September sell-off. Walmart’s all-season appeal is due to it being a defensive consumer staple company, given its products will be in demand irrespective of the economic condition.
Over the past year, Amazon has gained 5.63% compared to Walmart’s 17.26% jump. But year-to-date, Amazon has risen a solid 50.67% compared to Walmart’s 14.86%.
Figure: Comparison of market price trajectory of AMZN and WMT over the given time period.
Chart courtesy of Benzinga
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