Walmart, which is pushing deeper into the healthcare arena, is a "sleeping giant to watch" in the industry, Morgan Stanley analysts wrote in a note to clients, reports Bloomberg.
In recent weeks, Walmart opened more standalone primary care clinics and stepped into the health insurance realm by launching an insurance agency to sell Medicare products. It also joined forces with a startup pharmacy benefit manager, Capital Rx, which offers a cloud-based technology platform offering a real-time look at drugs' unit prices.
The retail giant's recent moves in healthcare suggest that Walmart is taking a multiprong approach to disrupting the industry and working to blur the lines between retail, healthcare and technology, the analysts said.
While there are still few details on Walmart's overarching plan in healthcare, its huge customer base and opportunity to reduce inefficiencies suggest that more moves are likely and make it a company to watch, the analysts said.