Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (WMT), doing business as Walmart, is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets, discount department stores and grocery stores. Headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas, the company was founded by Sam Walton in 1962 and incorporated on October 31, 1969. As of February 29, 2016, Walmart has 11,527 stores in 27 countries, under a total of 72 banners. The company operates under the Walmart name in the United States and Canada. It operates as Walmart de México y Centroamérica in Mexico, as Asda in the United Kingdom, as Seiyu in Japan, and as Best Price in India. It has wholly owned operations in Argentina, Brazil, and Canada. It also owns and operates the Sam's Club retail warehouses. Walmart is the world's largest company by revenue, according to the Fortune Global 500 list in 2014, as well as the biggest private employer in the world with 2.2million employees. Walmart is a family-owned business, as the company is controlled by the Walton family. Sam Walton's heirs own over 50percent of Walmart through their holding company, Walton Enterprises, and through their individual holdings. It is also one of the world's most valuable companies by market value, and is also the largest grocery retailer in the U.S. In 2015, it generated 59.8 percent of its US$288 billion sales in the U.S. from its grocery business. The company was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1972. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the company rose from a regional to a national giant. By 1988, Walmart was the most profitable retailer in the U.S. and by October 1989, it had become the largest in terms of revenue. Geographically limited to theSouth and lower Midwest up to the mid 1980s, by the early 1990s the company's presence spanned from coast to coast—Sam's Club opened in New Jersey in November 1989 and the first California outlet opened in Lancaster in July 1990. A Walmart in York, Pennsylvania opened in October 1990, bringing the main store to the Northeast. Walmart's investments outside North America have seen mixed results: its operations in the United Kingdom, South America, and China are highly successful, whereas ventures in Germany and South Korea failed. Walmart's reputation is for "low prices", compared with Target's for selling "cheap chic" and Costco's for offering low-price, limited-selection "retail treasure hunts", where "one's shopping cart could contain a US$50,000 diamond ring resting on top of a 64-ounce vat of mayonnaise".
Wal-Mart aims to switch to cage-free egg supply chain by 2025 Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT) said it was aiming to switch to a cage-free egg supply chain in the United States by 2025, joining a host of companies that have committed to stop using eggs laid by caged hens. The United States' biggest food retailer said on Tuesday it would mandate its egg suppliers to be certified and compliant with United Egg Producers' animal husbandry guidelines or an equivalent standard. The decision comes at a time when the food industry is under pressure from groups including the Humane Society of the United States, Mercy for Animals and World Animal Protection, which have successfully lobbied many companies to adopt animal welfare practices. LINK - http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/comp...cage-free-egg-supply-chain-by-2025/ar-BBrpiEb
Wal-Mart Upgrades Credit Card Rewards What happened? Wal-Mart (WMT) just upgraded the benefits and rewards customers can earn by using its prepaid MoneyCard and Walmart credit card, going from just two simple cash-back offers to a variety of savings that can be realized, which it's calling the "3-2-1 Save" cash-back program. Does it matter? Amid increasingly intense competition for shoppers attention, Wal-Mart undoubtedly sees this as an opportunity to gain a little advantage over Costco (NASDAQ:COST), which recently stumbled as it revamped its own credit card program. The warehouse club is switching from American Express to Visa, and at the same time upgrading the benefits members can receive. The rollout has been delayed, however, as the transition has taken longer than expected, but when it does go live, it's anticipated the rewards offered will be among the best in the industry. As a matter of necessity then, and to keep from falling further behind, Wal-Mart is enhancing the offers its cards give. Previously, Wal-Mart credit card users could earn $5 back for every $500 spent as well as get a discount of $0.05 off on a gallon of gas purchased at Wal-Mart gas stations. The new rewards program gives users: 3% back on purchases made on Walmart.com 2% back on fuel purchases at Wal-Mart or Murphy USA gas stations 1% back on all Walmart credit card purchases Existing Wal-Mart cardholders were automatically enrolled in the new rewards program beginning April 1, while new customers can apply for with a prepaid MoneyCard or a Walmart credit card in stores or online, and they can earn an extra 10% on their first day using the card. Will it be enough to make a difference? Probably not. Customers likely won't drop Costco in favor of Wal-Mart, but it is essential for Wal-Mart to keep its rewards program competitive with the warehouse club to keep its own customers from defecting. Costco's Visa card will offer 4% cash back on eligible gas purchases, 3% back on restaurant and travel purchases, 2% back for shopping at Costco in-store or online, and 1% back everywhere else. LINK - http://www.fool.com/investing/gener...alysis-wal-mart-upgrades-credit-card-rew.aspx
Wal-Mart expands online grocery pickup to eight more cities Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N) is expanding free curbside pickup of groceries into eight new cities this month including Kansas City and Austin as the retailer gains confidence it can make the strategy work on a larger scale, a senior executive told Reuters. Read full article here: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-walmart-groceries-expansion-idUSKCN0XA07U
Walmart Says Second-Quarter Profit May Top Last Year's Walmart (WMT) , which topped profit estimates in the three months through April, says its earnings this quarter may be higher than last year's. Despite a consumer-spending slowdown, earnings in the Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer's fiscal second quarter, should be 95 cents to $1.08 a share, according to Brett Biggs, Walmart's executive vice president and CFO. A year ago, Walmart posted profit of $1.03 a share from continuing operations in the period.
Walmart is just slaying it considering poor Target's earnings. Retail trade monopolist in a few years from now?
Reported before open today (5/19/16) Earnings: EPS $0.98 Revenue $115.9B Estimates: EPS $0.88 Revenue $113.22B Up 9.01% today so far
How will Wal-Mart keep slashing prices: Here's a hint — it flies To deliver on its latest promise to lower prices across its stores, Wal-Mart (WMT) is squeezing every penny out of the costs required to move and store its merchandise across the U.S. That includes testing the use of proprietary drone technology in its 1.2 million-square-foot distribution center in Bentonville, Arkansas. The drones, which operate on autopilot, fly through the aisles snapping 30 images a second, and delivering real-time data to employees about whether the correct product is shelved in the proper place. Read full article here: http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/comp...ing-prices-heres-a-hint-—-it-flies/ar-BBtMWpK
Analyst Upgrade/Downgrade Update Brokerage firm: Piper Jaffray Change: Coverage Initiated Previous Rating: N/A Current Rating: Neutral Previous Price Target: N/A Current Price Target: $73
Investors need to be on high alert for a possible major breakdown in shares of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT). There is a bearish head and shoulder pattern formation on the stock chart. The retailer is hammering on a trend line (part of the head and shoulder pattern), that if broken, will yield a collapse on the stock to $59. This is not a small move, the stock is currently above $68. This is a 13% potential drop that could play out in weeks to a month or two. It definitely deserves attention from investors and traders.
For years Walmart forced many of the competitors out of business as they could not compete with their low prices.Now they are getting a taste of their own medicine online against Amazon. To expand this a little bit their is a grocery story in Vegas/Henderson, NV called WinCo an employee owned business. They are not only undercutting them, people drive from all over town to buy their groceries. If they should extend their business nation wide it will put a hurt on the Mighty Walmart. Should WinCo ever go public I would be all over it.
Not sure what the earnings will say, but chart says to me this is going up. Part of XLP ETF, which is also looking strong.
Read that Buffet is closing his position, not sure of the impact but that's a ton of shares being cut loose.
I'm kind of bullish on WMT. They seem to be carrying out what they said they were going to. WMT took a pretty good hit on stock price in October of 2015 due to an announcement they made at this link: http://news.walmart.com/news-archiv...llion-share-repurchase-program-over-two-years In that article they had this to say about 2017: “Fiscal year 2017 will represent our heaviest investment period. Operating income is expected to be impacted by approximately $1.5 billion from the second phase of our previously announced investments in wages and training as well as our commitment to further developing a seamless customer experience,” said Holley. “As a result of these investments, we expect earnings per share to decline between 6 and 12 percent in fiscal year 2017, however by fiscal year 2019 we would expect earnings per share to increase by approximately 5 to 10 percent compared to the prior year.” I'm expecting that the worst of their capital expenditures are already priced in and going forward they should start seeing increased growth. Current price levels are not bad for long term investors. I'd like to see a pullback under 66 but not sure that will happen any time soon.
