The Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES) share price has had a stellar year thus far.
Since the start of the year, shares in the conglomerate have soared more than 12%.
Let's have a look at what the future might hold for the Wesfarmers share price.
What's been happening with the Wesfarmers share price?
With a large proportion of the Australian population being under some form of COVID-19 induced lockdown, the shares in Wesfarmers have surely benefited.
After soaring to 52-week highs, shares in the conglomerate gave back a large chunk of its gains.
The main catalyst can be attributed to the company's full year report.
Despite delivering solid growth in FY21, Wesfarmers flagged that earnings in the group's retail businesses for the first half of FY22 may be below the prior corresponding period.
As a result, investors may be questioning the outlook for shares in Wesfarmers.
Outlook on the Wesfarmers share price
A recent article published by my Foolish colleague has addressed what the future may look like for investors in Wesfarmers.
The article focused on two prominent fund managers and their take on the conglomerates future.
The panellists noted that Wesfarmers remains well capitalised and cited the dominant position that Bunnings holds in the sector.
The fund managers were also impressed by the company's strong balance sheet, capital allocation and durability.
According to the panellists, these strengths have been reflected in the Wesfarmers share price over the last 5 years.
In a separate piece, another colleague of mine has also elaborated on why shares in the conglomerate could be a long-term buy.
More on the Wesfarmers share price
Wesfarmers recently made headlines after making a 'sweetened' bid to acquire Australian Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (ASX: API).
The conglomerate has offered to buy 100% of API's outstanding shares at $1.55 per share under a revised scheme arrangement.
Wesfarmers made its intentions about expanding into the beauty and pharmaceutical sector clear earlier this year.
The conglomerate lodged a $687 million takeover bid for API in July, which was rejected by the pharmaceutical company.
Up until recently, the Wesfarmers share price was having a stellar year. However, in the past month shares in the conglomerate have fallen more than 14% from their record highs.
The Wesfarmers share price finished yesterday's session trading at $57.36.
