Wal-Mart shares gain for a second session in a row on Wednesday, extra hours to be granted to personnel for holiday season

Instead of hiring seasonal workers for the holidays, Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT) said yesterday it would grant extra hours to its current staff. The retailer also said it intended to revive its “Holiday Helper” initiative by hiring more “helpers” in stores for the holiday season. “Helpers” are focused on providing assistance to clients in finding the shortest checkout line as well as picking up items forgotten by visitors.

Wal-Mart shares closed higher for a second consecutive trading session on Wednesday. The stock went up 0.56% ($0.45) to $80.50, with the intraday high and the intraday low being at $80.56 and $79.87 respectively. In the week ended on September 17th the shares of the retail chain added 1.90% to their market value compared to a week ago, which marked a second consecutive period of gains and also the best performance since the week ended on July 30th. The stock has extended its advance to 3.11% so far during the current month, following a 2.40% slump in August. The latter has been the second drop out of seven months. For the entire past year, Wal-Mart shares gained 12.76%. The stock has risen 16.46% so far in 2017.

Giving employees more hours is a contrasting move by Wal-Mart compared to that of retailers such as Macys Inc, Target Corp among others, which have already announced aggressive seasonal hiring plans for the upcoming holidays.

“These extra hours will help staff traditional roles like cashier and stocker, and newly created technology-empowered positions such as personal shoppers and Pickup associates”, Judith McKenna, Walmart U.S. Chief Operating Officer, was quoted as saying by Reuters.

According to CNN Money, the 30 analysts, offering 12-month forecasts regarding Wal-Mart’s stock price, have a median target of $84.00, with a high estimate of $93.00 and a low estimate of $61.00. The median estimate is a 4.35% surge compared to the closing price of $80.50 on September 20th.

The same media also reported that 15 out of 31 surveyed investment analysts had rated Wal-Mart Stores’ stock as “Hold”, while 13 – as “Buy”. On the other hand, 2 analysts had recommended selling the stock.

Daily and Weekly Pivot Levels

With the help of the Camarilla calculation method, todays levels of importance for the Wal-Mart stock are presented as follows:

R1 – $80.56
R2 – $80.63
R3 (Range Resistance – Sell) – $80.69
R4 (Long Breakout) – $80.88
R5 (Breakout Target 1) – $81.10
R6 (Breakout Target 2) – $81.20

S1 – $80.44
S2 – $80.37
S3 (Range Support – Buy) – $80.31
S4 (Short Breakout) – $80.12
S5 (Breakout Target 1) – $79.90
S6 (Breakout Target 2) – $79.80

By using the traditional method of calculation, the weekly levels of importance for Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT) are presented as follows:

Central Pivot Point – $79.93
R1 – $81.20
R2 – $82.02
R3 – $83.29
R4 – $84.56

S1 – $79.11
S2 – $77.84
S3 – $77.02
S4 – $76.20