By Sabrina Escobar
Walmart isn't pouring billions into artificial intelligence. But it's eagerly standing by, ready to deploy the AI tools that Big Tech is developing with its billions in research and development.
Tech companies has been spending hundreds of billions for the past few years. And this year won't be any different. Earnings reports from last week showed the astronomical numbers: Amazon.com, about $200 billion, and Alphabet, as much $185 billion.
Meta Platforms came in at the low end, anywhere from $115 billion to $135 billion. And part of that mega investment is going toward new agentic shopping tools.
For the shopper, it means an autonomous AI agent does all the legwork -- showing the brands, models, costs, and so forth, and then buying the item.
In what world wouldn't Walmart stand to gain from agentic AI, the future of e-commerce? Or a handful of other retailers such as Etsy, Wayfair, and DoorDash that -- like Walmart -- have figured out the power and presence of AI?
Truist analyst Youssef Squali sees the writing on the wall, from how fast agentic is growing. He projects agentic will be about 10% of the U.S. total spent on e-commerce -- $160 billion -- by 2029 -- up from only 1% last year. In the holiday season just past, generative AI tools pushed online shopping to a record high. AI referrals to websites rose by 693% from the previous year.
Squali, of course, predicts the winners of the agentic shift are companies that control the search platforms such as Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and OpenAI, which coincidently are also spending on the money on AI R&D.
And on the retail side, Squali thinks online marketplaces that have been optimized for AI discovery and brands that become AI-friendly are going to be early winners. Again, those names include Etsy, Wayfair, and DoorDash, which are making their offerings easily discoverable by AI agents.
"This list should grow as the opportunity becomes clearer for the various players, and as partnerships intensify," he added.
Then, there's Walmart. Analysts have been saying for a while now that the discounter is in the position to reap the rewards of AI. It already has deals with OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Gemini that will allow shoppers to buy from Walmart directly on both platforms.
Mizuho analyst David Bellinger is saying it again: Walmart can win by using AI -- without forking out billions itself to develop those tools.
"WMT recently dismissed concerns of beginning its own AI investment cycle." Bellinger wrote on Monday. "We believe the company can effectively 'borrow' the Capex of hyperscalers to its advantage, translating certain technologies into the WMT ecosystem via partnerships or other means."
Walmart stock is up 17.2% this year and has gained 27% over the past 12 months. Last week, the company became the first traditional retailer to command a market capitalization of over $1 trillion.
Now, the chain's artificial intelligence investments is driving the bull case. The company is intent on transforming itself from discount big-box retailer to an e-commerce giant.
To reflect this image, and to profit from all the cash pouring into tech, Walmart transferred its shares to the Nasdaq stock exchange after over five decades of trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
In January, Nasdaq said Walmart would become part of the Nasdaq 100 index, a move that analysts predicted would attract more passive inflows from index-tracking funds.
Walmart stores are everywhere it seems. Online is now just as important.
Write to Sabrina Escobar at sabrina.escobar@barrons.com
This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 09, 2026 14:17 ET (19:17 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Comments