Fast Money Blog- 11/22/24

The week on Wall Street brought the current quarterly earnings period to an end, with earnings releases from Walmart, Inc. (WMT), NVIDIA Corp. (NVDA) and Applied Materials, Inc. (AMAT). 

Walmart posted outstanding Q3 2025 earnings, with top-line revenue of $169.6 billion, up 5.5% year-over-year. 

Here’s what you need to know:

During Q3, Walmart’s U.S. transactions rose 3.1%, and the average transaction amount increased by 2.1% year over year. 

E-commerce sales rose 22% in the U.S., with gains coming from curbside pickup and home delivery, along with growth in Walmart’s advertising and third-party marketplace businesses.

In addition, Walmart's global e-commerce sales grew 27% and its global advertising sales grew 28%.

Even more impressive, Walmart is seeing a surge in new customers with income over $100,000. Walmart is proving to be a hit with consumers nationwide, regardless of income. The chief reason seems to be that we are a value driven society and everyone is looking to get the most bang for their buck. 

Over the past 5 years, Walmart stock has gone from $40 per share to a new high of around $90 per share. 

In my view it’s time to build a small position in WMT for the future appreciation in its stock price. 

On Wednesday, November 20th, NVDA released its Q3 2025 earnings with record quarterly revenue of $35 billion, up 94% year-over-year.

Here’s where it get tricky:

Nvidia’s data center business continues to be the leading driver of its success, which shows that the demand for AI infrastructure is not slowing down. 

In Q3 NVDA reported record Data Center revenue of $30.8 billion, up 17% from Q2 and up 112% from a year ago. 

Third-quarter Gaming revenue was $3.3 billion, up 15% year-over-year.

Third-quarter Automotive revenue was $449 million, up 30% from the previous quarter and up 72% from a year ago.

If you are not aware, Nvidia has been making steady advances in automotive data center processing, working with high-profile automakers such as Tesla, Mercedes, Volvo, and Hyundai.

So Tyrone, why has NVDA stock slipped slightly post-earnings?

Despite nearly doubling sales year-over-year, Nvidia’s growth over the past few quarters does show a slight deceleration.

This is where you raise an eyebrow. Slower revenue growth means less cap x spending by their clients, which generally translates into a slower growing stock price. 

Because of this Nvidia is a higher risk stock that I don’t think has a place in your retirement account. 

Finally, AMAT released its Q4 and fiscal year 2024 earnings. 

Quarterly revenue came in at $7.05 billion, up 5% year over year, while annual revenue was $27.18 billion, up 2% year over year

AMAT's Q4 Revenue broke down like this:

AMAT’s semi-conductor segment brought in $5.18 billion, up 6% year-over-year.

Their applied global services segment revenue was $1.6 billion, up 11% year-over-year.

But here’s the problem:

AMAT forecast lower revenue projections for Q1 2025, implying they expect stagnant demand for chip-making equipment apart from their AI-powered chips. This is why the stock has fallen about $10 post-earnings.

However, the stock is up 209% over the past 5 years. The long-term performance of AMAT is amazing, so if you have held on to AMAT for awhile you are doing more than okay.

If on the other hand, you purchased AMAT recently, you will have to sell 30 to 60 day covered calls to bring in income. 

As of today, retail stocks appear to be in favor and I expect this trend to continue through the end of 2024. 

Stay open and stay positive!

I expect the market as a whole to continue to stay bullish between now and Christmas Day. 

Tyrone Jackson, The Wealthy Investor