Company Analysis : Wal Mart Stores Inc.

A snapshot of the Net Margins for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is shown below: Net Margin Wal-Mart 2010 3.90% 2011 3.50% 2012 3.60%

Although the company did show an increased gross profit of $8,255,000 with $6,358,000 less Net Sales in 2013 versus 2012, that increase is due to the reduction in product Cost of Goods Sold by $14,613,000. Since increases in product price will negatively affect sales, one of management’s primary goals is to keep prices stable. This objective is achieved through implementation of cost cutting programs, investing in more efficient equipment, and automation of more steps in the production process.

The purpose of this report is to evaluate the stock price of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (which ticker symbol in NYSE is WMT) by fundamental analysis. According to this analysis, I recommend that Wal-Mart is worth to invest in the long term because of the potential growth of market shares and revenue. Besides, based on P/E method and Gordon model, WMT price is undervalued; therefore, if investors buy the stock, they will get benefit not only in capital gain but also in dividend cash inflow.

This is the assessment of the historical and future performances of the two companies in order to fully project internal and external factors that will affect the forecasts. The purpose is to identify trends, year to year changes, in order to assess whether the two companies’ performance are stable or sporadic and highly volatile.

When our professor first presented this project paper to us my mind began to wonder. What is a good company to research and present it to my fellow classmates. My first selection was “Chik-fil-a”, but I wasn’t sure if we could write about fast food franchises. So I continued to brainstorm about a topic to expound on, even going as far as in asking my buddies and co-workers for suggestions. “Walmart”, “National Football League”, “National Basketball Association”, “Nationwide Insurance”, and “LG” were a few ideas that were presented to me. A few of those sounded ok but none really grasp my attention. As I was visiting an outlet mall, I came across Nike store. “Wow that’s going to by my topic of choice”, is what I told myself. Week

Loblaw Companies Limited is the leader of Canada’s food and pharmacy, their independently-operated stores, food and household products as well as pharmacies can be found in every Canadian’s neighborhoods.

1. Discuss whether the analysts following Intel appear to have been influenced by any biases, both generally and in their reaction to Intel’s announcement in September 2000 (3 marks).

You would not buy a home, car or other large purchases without researching what product offered you the most for your money. The same is true when investing in a company. Investors do avid research on multiple companies to find what company matches the investors' criteria. In this paper Team C will research both AT&T and Verizon's financial documents. Team C will compare selected ratios, cash flow and make recommendations how both companies can manage cash flow for the future.

As can be seen from the value and trend of earningper of Share of Wal-Mart the value delivered to the shareholders has increased in the period 2008 to 2012. This means that the organization has been successful in creating more income every year and then delivering a larger portion of income to the shareholders. In 2008, the Earnings per Share were 3.16 dollars which increased to 4.56 in 2012.

Wal-Mart is the world's largest retail and departmental store chain. Having business operations in 27 countries with 69 different brand names, Wal-Mart is able to serve a huge number of customers per day. Wal-Mart is the fastest growing and the most successful retail brand in the world. The factors which make it the strongest brand in its industry include large customer base, sound financial strength, strong brand image, and huge supply chain network. Wal-Mart has certain weaknesses in its operations and business setup like low acceptability of certain products, high employee turnover, and less recognition of newly introduced brands. These weaknesses can be overcome by availing attractive opportunities from the market and investing more in the most profitable areas. Wal-Mart faces the biggest threat from its competitors and ever-changing customer preferences.

The Earnings Per share in 2012 and 2013 were $2.90. This is an indicator that the company is still profitable since the ratio is a constant. The price per earnings in 2012 was 12.5 and 17.7 in 2013. A decrease in the price per share may indicate a vote of no confidence to investors. However, this can be attributed to the industry sector as well the stock.

In 1962, Wal-Mart was built sometime by Sam Walton in Roger, Arkansas. Wal-Mart has 5,100 stores and clubs all over the United States and a sum of 8,300 unit's global. The company was able to employ something like over 2 million associates from all over the world and about 2.4 million in the United States. Wal-Marts average annual total income rate was somewhat in excess of 10% for the three years from the fiscal year that is ending 2009 to the fiscal year ending 2011 (Blanchard, 2008). Research shows that they also had what was known as a stock split of 100 %; Wal-Mart was able to see this split 12 times all through the eras of 1973 through 2002. They have received many awards and were categorized 5th in Fortune magazine's "Global Most Well-regarded All-Stars" as the third most appreciated corporation in America (Wal-Mart, 2013)

To test the assumption of a discount rate of 7% as given in the outline of the case, we calculated the required rate of return for the Wal-Mart stock using CAPM . Using rWalMart = Rf + βWalMart [E(RM) – RF], we find the required rate of return to be 7.01% and in line with the information given in the case outline.

To be the world 's largest low cost store that carries all types of merchandise for all possible consumers.

Even J.P.Morgan who maintains a bullish stance on the name cited poor earnings quality and CIBC ceased coverage after citing production delays and operational uncertainties. As outlined above Biovail’s management has materially misstated revenue guidance in my opinion either due to incompetence, or of even greater concern possibly engaged in deceptive disclosures. It is also possible that they were attempting to engage in channel stuffing to inflate revenue figures. The fact that management applied pressure to retract a negative report published by a former Banc of America analyst and then made negative public statements regarding his coverage is a huge red flag in my mind. This is a highly unusual tactic and raises ethical concerns. Despite these aggressive tactics analysts should not shy away from covering this stock as it is their role in the capital markets to provide an independent view for investors, be that positive or negative and this is never more important than when something improper may be in play or when fundamental performance is at a tipping