Goldman Consumer Head Is Leaving to Run Walmart Fintech at Wall Street Journal. "Mr. Ismail, who first joined Goldman nearly 20 years ago, was among a group of executives who came up with a strategy to expand into digital banking services in 2014. By the end of last year, that business generated $1.2 billion in annual revenue, had amassed $97 billion in deposits and held $8 billion in consumer-loan balances." WSJ subs.   Walmart Lures Goldman Bankers in Bid to Fight Wall Street at Bloomberg. "David Stark, one of (Omer Ismail's) top lieutenants at Goldman, will join him in [...]

  Best Buy Q4 enterprise comp sales +12.6% Press release   ...Best Buy’s Q4 earnings beat Wall Street’s expectations, but fell short on revenue at CNBC. "Chief Financial Officer Matt Bilunas said same-store sales are expected to range from a drop of 2% to a gain of 1% this year." Read more   Wayfair Q4 net revenue +45% Press release   Gap to invest $140 million to build Texas warehouse as online sales swell at CNBC. "The Longview, Texas, warehouse will be able to process 1 million packages per day. Gap plans to derive half of its sales from the [...]

  Lowe's Q4 U.S. comp sales +28.6% Press release   ...Lowe’s tops earnings estimates as same-store sales jump 28%, warns that some DIY trends could fade at CNBC. "Lowe’s reported fourth-quarter net income of $978 million, or $1.32 per share, up from $509 million, or 66 cents per share, a year earlier." Read more   TJX Companies, Inc. Q4 open-only comp sales -3.0%: Marmaxx (U.S.) -7.0% / HomeGoods (U.S.) +13.0% / TJX Canada -8.0% / TJX Int'l (Europe & Australia) -2.0% Press release   BigCommerce customers can now sell on Walmart's online marketplace at TechCrunch. "The two companies are incentivizing [...]

  Home Depot Q4 U.S. comp sales +25.0% "...if the demand environment during the back half of fiscal 2020 were to persist through fiscal 2021, it would imply flat to slightly positive comparable sales growth and operating margin of at least 14 percent," said Richard McPhail, executive vice president and CFO." Press release   ...In year of pandemic, Home Depot became supplier to millions at AP. "Neil Saunders, the managing director of GlobalData, calculated that in 2020 the equivalent of every single person in the United States spent $402 at Home Depot. “It is easy to look at Home Depot’s numbers [...]

  Kohl’s shares soar as activist investor group looks to add 9 directors to board at CNBC. "The group is hoping to drive the stock price more than two times higher than current levels, through a sale-leaseback program for $3 billion worth of real estate, and a major share repurchase program, it explained in a letter sent to Kohl’s stockholders on Monday." Read more   ...A group that includes activists Macellum Advisors GP LLC, Ancora Holdings Inc. and Legion Partners Asset Management LLC, as well as 4010 Capital LLC, controls a combined 9.5% stake in Kohl’s and earlier this year [...]

  Walmart’s CEO says Americans urgently need another stimulus check at CNBC. "Doug McMillon said more customers spent their recent stimulus checks on necessities, such as groceries, rather than big-screen TVs. He said the spending patterns indicate that more families are hurting and need help." Read more   Lights come back on in Texas as water woes rise in the South at AP. "Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said residents will probably have to boil tap water in the fourth-largest U.S. city until Sunday or Monday." Read more   Michaels Stores’ Strategy for Keeping the Covid Bump Alive at Wall Street [...]

  Walmart Q4 comp sales: Walmart U.S. +8.6% / Sam's Club +10.8% / Int'l Net Sales +5.5% Press release | Earnings call presentation   ...Walmart shares fall on earnings miss, retailer sees sales growth slowing in coming year at CNBC. "Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said it will boost the wage of U.S. workers, raising the average for hourly employees to above $15 per hour." Read more   ...Walmart rides soaring holiday demand to beat same-store sales estimates at Reuters. "Sales at U.S. stores open at least a year surged 8.6%, excluding fuel, in the three months ended Jan. 31, well above [...]

  Target Announces Updates to Executive Leadership Team "Christina Hennington named executive vice president and chief growth officer...Jill Sando will oversee buying for hardlines and softlines as executive vice president and chief merchandising officer...Rick Gomez named executive vice president and chief food and beverage officer...Cara Sylvester promoted to executive vice president and chief marketing and digital officer...Katie Boylan promoted to executive vice president and chief communications officer." Press release   Retail sales jumped 5.3% in January, well ahead of the 1.2% expectation at CNBC. "Electronics and appliances saw the biggest increase, up 14.7% for the month, while furniture and home [...]