The Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES) share price has been on the move, soaring 9% over the past month alone. This comes despite no price sensitive news being released by the retail conglomerate since late July.
After Wednesday's market close, Wesfarmers shares finished the day slightly down 0.31% to $63.56. It's worth noting that its shares reached an all-time high of $64.10 on Monday.
What's driving Wesfarmers shares into uncharted territory?
The Wesfarmers share price has been attracting a number of investors to its registry since March 2020.
When COVID-19 arrived within our shores, Australians began to panic-buy in supermarkets, hardware stores and other retail outlets. The surge in spending led to bumper profits for Wesfarmers, which recorded strong sales and earnings growth across its businesses.
Fast-forward to today, half of Australia is again in lockdown, particularly with no end in sight for New South Wales. This has led consumers to again splurge on DIY projects from Bunnings, as well as business supplies from Officeworks.
Recently, Wesfarmers put forward a $687 million offer to acquire 100% of Australian Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (ASX: API). The retail conglomerate is seeking to further diversify its growing portfolio with entry into the pharmaceutical market. However, this offer has since been rejected by the API board, indicating that the proposal undervalued the business.
Only time will tell if Wesfarmers will increase its offer to API shareholders. If successful in its takeover, this would expand the company's presence into new markets.
Wesfarmers is scheduled to report its FY21 full-year results on Friday 27 August 2021.
Wesfarmers share price snapshot
No doubt, investors will be happy with how the Wesfarmers share price has tracked over the last 12 months, up 35%. The company has a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 38.46, and a trailing dividend yield of 2.58%.
Wesfarmers commands a market capitalisation of roughly $72 billion, making it the 7th largest company on the ASX.
