retail earnings kick off next week with home depot inc target corp and walmart inc set to report their quarterly results home depot hd reports first quarter results before market open on may 16 with target tgt set to report its results on the following day walmart wmt reports firstquarter results before market open on may 18 the following week lowe’s cos low and bj’s wholesale club holdings inc bj report their respective firstquarter results before market open on may 23 and costco wholesale corp cost reports fiscal thirdquarter results after market close on may 25 “as we head into earnings we believe wmt is one of the best positioned in our coverage and our data checks support our view” wrote jefferies equity analyst corey tarlowe in a note released thursday “we have new ticket and traffic data indices to estimate comp sales for wmt and tgt given the data we’re raising our q1 and fy wmt comp sales above cons and guidance” see now krispy kreme set for doughnut ‘halo effect’ at mcdonald’s and target say analysts jefferies now expects a 68 increase in walmart’s firstquarter comp sales analysts surveyed by factset are expecting a samestore sales increase of 54 compared to the same period last year jefferies also raised its firstquarter walmart eps estimate to 134 above both the 131 estimate from analysts’ surveyed by factset and walmart’s guidance of 125 to 130 a share jefferies also raised its walmart fullyear eps estimate to 622 above factset consensus of 613 and the retailer’s guidance of 590 and 605 “we’re raising estimates as the company continues to gain share and grow operating income” wrote tarlowe “we believe wmt’s initiatives automation advertising walmart etc are helping to build an attractive and growing flywheel and we are becoming more positive on wmt’s growth and profitability prospects ahead” however jefferies is “incrementally cautious” on target “according to our data we are modeling tgt q1 comps down 1 led by lower traffic” wrote tarlowe analysts surveyed by factset expect target’s samestore sales to increase 02 compared to the prior year target’s margins also remain pressured according to tarlowe who notes that stock nonetheless offers attractive riskreward “we believe that tgt is undervalued with upside ahead as fundamentals improve” he wrote see bed bath  beyond bankruptcy what it means for industrial and commercial real estate analytics company placerai has been tracking foot traffic to us retailers visits to major retail chains are down yearoveryear almost across the board according to placerai in january target visits were up almost 4 yearoveryear but were down 63 in april according to placerai’s data placerai data also show that walmart visits were down 88 yearoveryear in april however for retail giants such as target walmart and costco the “quality” of visits may be improving even as the number of visits falls says placerai’s marketing content manager shira petrack in a report thursday “diving into the visit quality metrics shows that median dwell time at leading superstores and wholesalers rose across the board between q1 2022 and q1 2023” petrack wrote “walmart saw the biggest increase followed by sam’s club and costco” additionally crossshopping trends are positive “between q1 2022 and q1 2023 the share of target and walmart consumers who visited superstores also increased across the board – which could mean that consumers are looking for ways to stretch their budgets by consolidating shopping trips and buying essentials in bulk” wrote petrack