Both shot up around Apr.
Wal-Mart announced that its Q4 2011 net earnings was $6.06 billion, or $1.70 per share, an increase of 27% compared to $4.76 billion or $1.25 per share a year earlier. However, the company was still plagued by concerns surrounding its US business, of which US Wal-Mart stores suffered a 1.8% decline in comparable store sales, the 7th straight quarter of declines. Net sales increased 2.5% to $115.6 billion, short of analysts' esitmates of $117.52 billion.
South Africa's Massmart, one of the countries largest retailers, has agreed to Wal-Marts bid to buy 51% of the company. The deal cost Wal-Mart about $2 billion and was its first venture into the African continent.
Goldman Sachs downgraded WMT to "Neutral" from "Buy".
Wal-Mart De Mexico announced that its December 2010 same-store sales increased by 3.7%, compared to the 3% that analysts were expecting. Total sales were 43.2 billion Pesos.
Wal-Mart confirmed that it and five other companies were investing $500 million in 360buy.com, one of China's largest and fastest growing online retailers.
Wal-Mart announced that its Q3 2011 earnings were $3.44 billion, or 95 cents per share, a 9.3% increase from $3.14 billion, or 81 cents a share last year. Revenue increased 2.6%, on 9.3% growth in international sales. Same-store sales in the US fell for the sixth straight quarter by 1.3%. The company raised its FY outlook to between $4.08 and $4.12 per share.
Wal-Mart announced that Charles Holley would succeed Tom Shoewe as CFO.
Wal-Mart announced the release of its Wal-Mart Family Mobile service, the company's first cell phone plan that uses the Wal-Mart name. The service runs on T-Mobile's USA network and features unlimited calling and texting for $45 a month with no contracts or termination fees.
WMT announced that its Q2 2011 earnings were $.359 billion, or 86 cents per share, up 3.6% from $3.47 billion, or 89 cents per share in the previous year. Total revenues increased by 3%, mainly due to an 11% increase in international sales. US sales remained flat.
Stifel Nicolaus cut WMT to hold from buy, due to time it will take to re-adjust to the company's U.S. namesake chain's strategic change and recent management turnover.
Analyst Colin McGranahan, from Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., cut his Q2 U.S. same-store sales estimate to a decline of 0.5% from a 1.5% increase and his profit estimate to 96 cents a share from 99 cents. He also lowered his U.S. same-store sales estimate for the year to a 0.3% increase from a 1.1% gain and profit estimate to $3.99 a share from $4.04.
WMT reported Q1 2011 earnings of $3.32 billion, or 88 cents per share, a 10% increase from earnings of $3.02 billion, or 77 cents per share in the same quarter last year. Total revenue rose 6% for the period. However, US comarable store sales fell by 1.1%, whereas analysts were expecting just a 0.6% decline.
Wal-Mart was upgraded to a buy by Citigroup. Analyst Deborah Weinswig raised her price target to $65 from $54.
WMT reported that its Q42010 earnings were $4.63 billion, or $1.21 per share, up from $3.8 billion, or 96 cents per share in 2009. US same store sales were down 1.6% and were offest by strong international sales.
A Goldman Sachs analyst upgraded WMT from neutral to buy citing that the company had taken a series of steps to boost EPS.
Wal-Mart announced that it would be cutting 11,200 Sam's clubs jobs in order to invest in its new Tastes and Tips program. 10,000 of the cut jobs were part time product sampling and demonstration jobs. These jobs are now being outsourced to a third party company called Shopper Events. The remaining 1,200 cut jobs were in the membership-recruiting department.
WMT posted a 3.2% increase in Q3 profits from $3.0 billion or 80 cents/share in 2009 to $3.2 billion or 84 cents/share in 2010. Net sales increased by 1%, however same store sales fell by 0.4%. The company says that thet delcine in same store sales may go through the holiday season.
WMT's Q2 2010 sales fell 1.4% due to the bleak economy and a 1.2% decrease in comparable store sales. However, the company's profits beat the Street's estimates.
For the current fiscal year ending Jan 31, 2010, WMT has increased its annual dividend to $1.09/share, which is a 15% increase from the $0.95 per share paid out during FY2009 (ended Jan 31, 2009). The first dividend will be paid out on April 6, 2009, for all common shareholders on record on March 13, 2009. WMT has increased its dividend every year since its first declared dividend of $0.05/share in March 1974.
WMT may be planning to expand into the Russian market through acquiring the majority of shares of the large Russian retailer Lenta. Lenta currently owns 34 hypermarkets with sales of approximately $2.3 billion USD. Lenta also has competitive penetration into the food retail market in Russia, a major selling point as the Russian food retail market is highly fragmented.
For Q4 FY2009 (ended Jan 31, 2009), WMT reported sales revenue of $108 billion, which is a 1.7% increase year-on-year. Net income was $3.8 billion, a 7.4% decrease from the previous-year quarter, mainly due to litigation costs and negative impact of currency on international sales revenue. Accounting for the impact of fuel cost fluctuations, comparable store sales for the domestic stores were up 2.3% for the quarter.
International sales increased 11.0 percent in the January period.
The 1.7% increase in WMT's December same-store sales was 1.1% less than what Thomson Reuters projected.
In Q3 FY2009, WMT reported net sales of $97.6 billion, an increase of 7.5% from Q3 FY2008's sales of $90.8 billion. Net income increase 9.8% from the prior-year quarter, to a total of $3.138 billion. However, despite comparable-store sales of 3.3% reported in Q3, WMT predicted that in the Q4 Christmas season, comparable store sales will be around 1% to 3%.
Wal-Mart earned $36.229 billion in Q3 2009, a 5.8% increase from a year earlier driven primarily by a 2.4% increase in comparable store sales during the period. Grocery and health and wellness sales spurred the company's growth in revenues during the quarter.
For the month of June 2008, Wal-Mart posted a same store sales increase of 5.8% as compared with a 2.4% increase in same store sales for June 2007. ..
Over the past few years, the market for music has been transitioning from CDs to digital music. Not only has iTunes become the largest marketplace for music, but Wal-Mart, the largest marketer for CDs domestically has been winding down its CD business and has started to seek exclusive release deals with record companies rather than just providing a comprehensive CD inventory.
Wal-Mart and Yahoo have teamed up to provide ad space on Wal-Mart’s website.
Through its website, Wal-Mart is affording its online customer base to submit to a free database of online classifieds.
Wal-Mart has pushed further into the healthcare market, providing incremental price cuts on over-the-counter and prescription medicines available through its in-house pharmacy. Wal-Mart has saved consumers around $1.6 billion in healthcare-related costs since the start of its “$4 generic brand” campaign in 2006.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- U.S. retailers are on track to report their slowest monthly sales growth in five years, which would further cement fears that American consumers are buckling under the weight of a slowing economy.Leading the way is No. 1 retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc., (WMT, Fortune 500) which on Thursday reported a big miss in its January same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year. Same-store sales is a key measure of performance in the retail industry.
Wal-Mart reported strong earnings figures for the third quarter of fiscal 2008 despite volatile economic conditions over the past few months that have hurt businesses in various industries. Wal-Mart saw net sales rise 8.8% from the same quarter in fiscal 2007 to $90.8 billion in the most recent quarter. The $90.8 billion in sales was distributed between Wal-Mart stores, Sam's Club locations, and international operations 63.4%, 11.9% and 24.7% respectively.
Walmart reported earnings of 72 cents a share, four cents below analyst estimates, and lowered its expectations for the rest of the year. The company blamed high gas prices and a deteriorating housing market for making customers hesitant to spend.
Announces $15 Billion Share Buyback Plan
Wal-Mart launches a national ad campaign to promote environmentally friendly products. It also asks suppliers to cut down on the amount of packaging used for products sent to Wal-Mart stores.
Wal-Mart reports a 0.9% increase in same store sales for February, lower than the 1-2% expected by analysts and Wal-Mart projections. The company attributes this to low sales performance due to blizzards in the Midwest and Northeast, as well as slowdown in home decor and clothing.
Wal-Mart reports a better than expected fourth quarter due to holiday sales and strong performance from its holdings in Mexico and the UK.
