Zaid

Well, you guys might not believe me, but I was an early believer in Walmart.

Now, once they started embracing technology a few years ago and I saw the improvements to their app and their e-commerce offerings, I became an investor.

But even I'm starting to think the stock has gotten expensive, trading it over 40 times forward earnings.

Now, I think their business is solid.

I like the growth in e-commerce.

I like the improvements they're making to their supply chains for improving the efficiency.

I like the fact that they're embracing AI.

But at this current valuation, one bad quarter or a misstep by the new CEO could reprice the stock.

I do want to point out though that Walmart is in such an interesting spot right now.

Like it's somehow both seen as a tech company, but also as a defensive stock.

60% of Walmart sales are from groceries, which tends to be a stable business.

People are going to have to keep buying groceries no matter what the economy is doing.

In fact, consumers tend to shop at Walmart more during times of economic uncertainty or slowdown.

So if there is an economic slowdown, Walmart is going to benefit from that.

You add in all the uncertainty around potential AI disruption, the market seems to be putting a higher value on Walmart's core business as a retailer because that's not going anywhere.

At the same time, you get the upside in all the investments that Walmart is making in tech.

Welcome back to The Rundown for another weekend deep dive.

Today, we are talking about the hottest stock in the S&P 500 right now, Sandisk.

Sandisk was the best performing stock in the S&P in 2025, jumping more than 500%, and it's not slowing down so far.

The stock is up another 160% in January.