All Eyes On Wal-Mart, Valero, Kinder Morgan, 2 More This Morning

Although arch-nemesis Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) may have held its much-touted Prime Day on July 12, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT)‘s sales were reportedly strong as well  Given the rivalry between the two, Wal-Mart offered shoppers a considerable amount of deals such as ‘rollbacks’ promotions and price cuts on select electronics, apparel, toys, and more, and those deals likely helped strengthen sales. As the average delivery time shortens, Amazon will likely compete more and more with Wal-Mart and it will be important for Wal-Mart to be able to match Amazon in terms of efficiency and pricing. Of the 766 active funds that Insider Monkey tracks, 54 owned $6.83 billion in Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) shares at the end of March, which accounted for 3.10% of the float.

American States Wins a Contract

American States Water Co (NYSE:AWR) shares are 1.2% higher after the U.S government awarded the company’s contracted services subsidiary, American States Utility Services, Inc, a 50-year contract to maintain, operate, and provide construction management services for wastewater and water systems at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. American States Water estimates the value of the contract will be worth $510 million over the 50-year period. The contract is also subject to annual economic price adjustment. The number of funds in our system with holdings in American States Water Co (NYSE:AWR) rose by four quarter-over-quarter to nine as of the end of March.

On the next page, we examine why Imprivata Inc, Valero Energy, and Kinder Morgan and turning heads this morning.