WMT vs DG Comparison: AI Score, Valuation, Performance and Upside
Compare Walmart's scale advantages in groceries and e-commerce against Dollar General's rural small-box format and its ongoing operational turnaround.
Use this Walmart vs Dollar General comparison to evaluate the key differences across valuation, growth, profitability, and risk before making an investment decision.
DG holds the edge across 3 of 5 key metrics in this comparison. DG leads on both 1-year return (+27.64%) and forward P/E quality (14.95x vs 31.99x for WMT), a relatively favorable combination of momentum and valuation. On fundamentals, WMT is growing revenue faster (5.90%), while DG maintains the higher operating margin (6.81%) — a classic growth-versus-profitability split. Analyst consensus implies meaningfully more upside for WMT (+23.90%) than for DG (+12.41%).
Human Wall Street analysts' price targets, typically implying a ~12-month view — a separate signal from this site's own AI Prediction Signal further down the page, which is a 5-/30-day machine-learning forecast based on price history alone.
| Metric | WMT | DG |
|---|---|---|
| AI scorei | 55.5 | 44.0 |
| AI ranki | #261 | #993 |
| Latest closei | $121.25 | $130.09 |
| 1M returni | +13.53% | +6.07% |
| 3M returni | +9.14% | +2.03% |
| 6M returni | -8.10% | +12.26% |
| 1Y returni | +17.52% | +27.64% |
How much would $10,000 be worth today if invested at the start of each period, with all dividends reinvested?
| Period | WMT | DG |
|---|---|---|
| 1Y ago | $11.83K (+18.3%) started 2025-10-29 | $13.02K (+30.2%) started 2025-10-29 |
| 5Y ago | $26.97K (+169.7%) started 2021-11-01 | $6.62K (-33.8%) started 2021-11-01 |
| 10Y ago | $71.89K (+618.9%) started 2016-10-31 | $23.48K (+134.8%) started 2016-10-31 |
Hypothetical — past performance does not guarantee future results.
| Metric | WMT | DG |
|---|---|---|
| Market capi | $820.4B | $27.11B |
| Trailing P/Ei | 37.35 | 15.94 |
| Forward P/Ei | 31.99 | 14.95 |
| Price/Salesi | 1.14 | N/A |
| EV/Revenuei | 1.21 | 0.95 |
| Analyst targeti | $127.73 | $138.14 |
| Target upsidei | +23.90% | +12.41% |
| Metric | WMT | DG |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue growthi | 5.90% | 5.20% |
| Earnings growthi | -9.10% | 33.30% |
| EPS growthi | -9.10% | +33.30% |
| FCF margini | +1.22% | +3.98% |
| Operating margini | 4.99% | 6.81% |
| Profit margini | 3.00% | 3.90% |
| ROIC proxyi | 22.31% | 19.69% |
| Return on equityi | 22.31% | 19.69% |
| Dividend yieldi | 0.96% | 1.92% |
| Payout ratioi | 34.96% | 30.65% |
| Dividend growth streaki | No increase yet | No increase yet |
| Betai | 0.60 | 0.23 |
| Debt/equityi | 70.38 | 169.81 |
| Current ratioi | 0.77 | 1.21 |
| Quick ratioi | 0.20 | 0.23 |
Over the past year, WMT and DG have moved weakly in the same direction (correlation of 0.35), based on daily returns.
Lower drawdown and smaller single-period drops generally indicate a smoother ride, though they do not guarantee lower future risk.
| Period | Metric | WMT | DG |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Y | Growthi | +18.34% | +30.21% |
| CAGRi | +18.37% | +30.26% | |
| Volatilityi | 26.25% | 38.24% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.61 | 0.77 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.84 | 1.18 | |
| Max drawdowni | 23.52% | 34.88% | |
| Current drawdowni | 9.65% | 16.74% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 8.92% | 15.36% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 11.46% | 18.90% | |
| Max daily dropi | 9.15% | 7.64% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 11.67% | 12.56% | |
| 5Y | Growthi | +155.76% | -37.55% |
| CAGRi | +20.70% | -9.00% | |
| Volatilityi | 22.63% | 37.22% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.75 | -0.18 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 1.05 | -0.24 | |
| Max drawdowni | 25.74% | 72.61% | |
| Current drawdowni | 9.65% | 47.60% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 6.73% | 39.07% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 9.25% | 45.09% | |
| Max daily dropi | 11.38% | 32.15% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 19.49% | 35.20% | |
| 10Y | Growthi | +507.38% | +109.61% |
| CAGRi | +19.78% | +7.69% | |
| Volatilityi | 22.19% | 31.68% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.72 | 0.26 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 1.06 | 0.35 | |
| Max drawdowni | 25.74% | 72.61% | |
| Current drawdowni | 9.65% | 47.60% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 6.41% | 22.01% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 8.88% | 32.18% | |
| Max daily dropi | 11.38% | 32.15% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 19.49% | 35.20% |
| Category | WMT | DG |
|---|---|---|
| Company | WMT | DG |
| Sector | Consumer Defensive | Consumer Defensive |
| Industry | Discount Stores | Discount Stores |
| Core business | Walmart Inc. engages in the operation of retail and wholesale stores and clubs, ecommerce websites, and mobile applications worldwide. | Dollar General Corporation, a discount retailer, provides various merchandise products in the southern, southwestern, midwestern, and eastern United States. |
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