Walmart membership hits record high, claims Morgan Stanley

By Sam Boughedda 

Walmart’s (NYSE:) membership reached a record 19.3 million members, according to Morgan Stanley’s latest AlphaWise Consumer Pulse Survey.

MS analysts, who have an Overweight rating and $160 price target on Walmart, said the company’s membership total addressable market (TAM) moved lower, suggesting the conversion of newly interested members, with the new membership record also a fourth straight increase. Membership TAM is said to have decreased to 27 million from nearly 30 million last month.

“Walmart+ has ~19.3m members, or ~15% US household penetration. This is ~0.9m members above our last estimate in late February and represents both a record high membership count (surpassing the 18.6m result from October ’22) and the fourth survey in a row of membership growth,” the analysts explained.

They added that the pace of membership growth accelerated this month relative to the increases Morgan Stanley observed in the past few surveys, although they are not aware of any recent catalysts or new offerings that could be driving this latest inflection.

This “could speak to a steadier run rate of growth relative to the past few years, when membership inflections were more sporadic and driven by clear catalysts (like the Paramount+ partnership),” said the analysts.