Walmart Q1 Earnings Released this Morning:

 

How Walmart Sees it:  “Walmart reports a 4.6 percent increase for Q1 EPS of $1.14; U.S. businesses forecast positive comp sales for Q2.”  from Walmart Press Release.  “Walmart U.S. comp sales declined 1.4 percent in the 13-week period from Jan. 26 to Apr. 26, 2013. Comp sales performance was impacted by a delay in income tax refund checks, challenging weather conditions, less grocery inflation than expected and the payroll tax increase. Walmart U.S. gained market share in the measured category of “food, consumables and health & wellness/OTC.”  Read full release:  https://news.walmart.com/news-archive/investors/walmart-reports-a-46-percent-increase-for-q1-eps-of-114-us-businesses-forecast-positive-comp-sales-for-q2-1820850

 

How CNBC Sees it:  “Wal-Mart Profit Beats; Soft US Sales a Drag on Revenue” at CNBC.  “Wal-Mart posted first-quarter earnings excluding items of $1.14 per share, versus $1.09 per share in the prior year-ago period. Revenue rose to $114.19 billion, from the $113.02 billion figure seen a year ago; including currency effects, revenue was $113.4 billion. Analysts had expected the company to report a profit of $1.15 per share on $116.25 billion in revenue, according to a consensus estimate from Thomson Reuters.”  Read more:  https://www.cnbc.com/id/100740377

 

How Fox Business Sees it:  “Wal-Mart Posts 1Q Miss, Tepid 2Q Outlook” at Fox Business.  “Developing: Wal-Mart revealed first-quarter earnings of $1.14 a share on sales of $113.4 billion, shy of estimates of $1.15 a share on $116.3 billion in revenues. The world’s biggest retailer said it expects to earn between $1.22 and $1.27 a share in the second quarter, also missing forecasts of $1.29. Shares of the Dow component slid 2.3% in pre-market trading.”  Read more:  https://www.foxbusiness.com/industries/2013/05/16/wal-mart-posts-1q-miss-tepid-2q-outlook/#ixzz2TSDdVjhM

 

“Kroger hunting for acquisitions, CFO tells investors” by Steve Watkins at Cincinnati Business Courier.  ““Now, if there was distressed real estate that’s in-market and we can take those stores and fold them into Kroger, and it’s more of a real estate transaction rather than buying a business, those have been exceedingly great for us, and we continue to look for those kinds of opportunities,” Schlotman said. “It always seems like there’s a lot of assets available in our industry. There just hasn’t been anything on a grand scale that has met the metrics.”  Read more:  https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/blog/2013/05/kroger-hunting-for-acquisitions-cfo.html

 

“Home Depot’s Chairman and CEO Frank Blake to Present at Sanford Bernstein 29th Annual Strategic Decisions Conference 2013” at Market Watch.  “Frank Blake, chairman and CEO, will present at the Sanford Bernstein 29th Annual Strategic Decisions Conference 2013 in New York, NY. The presentation will begin at 2 p.m. ET on May 29, 2013.”  Read more:  https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-home-depot-to-present-at-sanford-bernstein-29th-annual-strategic-decisions-conference-2013-2013-05-15

 

“Kroger Defends Double Coupon Elimination” by John Springer at Supermarket News.  “Michael Schlotman said eliminating double coupons has helped the company invest in lower everyday prices that benefitted a larger group of shoppers than the chain’s heavy coupon shoppers.  “Now, they’re a very vocal part of your customer base, and they don’t like it when you stop giving them that reward,” he said. “But the percentage of customers who actually enjoyed the benefit of that, our view was we were better off taking those dollars and investing them in better prices for all of our customers rather than rewarding just a select segment of our customers.”  Read more:  https://supermarketnews.com/retail-amp-financial/kroger-defends-double-coupon-elimination

 

“Wal-Mart taps St. Louis startup to monitor Bangladesh textile factories” by Amir Kurtovi.  “Wal-Mart said it will give $600,000 toward a project that will let allow all those textile factories to have a voice. The retailer is partnering with Labor Voices, a St. Louis startup with a mobile phone-based portal for supply chain management.  Last year, Labor Voices was among the winners of the Arch Grants competition. The deal with Wal-Mart will allow factory workers to provide feedback and report unsafe working conditions using Labor Voices’ platform.”  Read more:  https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/blog/BizNext/2013/05/walmart-taps-st-louis-startup-in.html

 

“Lowe’s Companies, Inc. Invites You to Join Its First Quarter 2013 Earnings Conference Call Webcast” at Market Watch.  “In conjunction with the Lowe’s Companies, Inc. first quarter 2013 earnings press release, you are invited to listen to its conference call to be broadcast live over the internet on Wednesday, May 22, 2013 at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time.”  Read more:  https://www.marketwatch.com/story/lowes-companies-inc-invites-you-to-join-its-first-quarter-2013-earnings-conference-call-webcast-2013-05-15

 

“Can Macy’s Win the Department Store Battle?” by Andrew Marder at The Motley Fool.  “For the rest of 2013, be on the lookout for similar comparable-store gains. Macy’s has forecast 3.5% for the full year, but I wouldn’t be surprised by anything up to 4%. Investors should also keep an eye on the new brands that Macy’s is launching this year, as those lines will give customers new reasons to visit the stores.”  Read more:  https://ht.ly/2wUtfm

 

“Inside Target’s Canadian Invasion” by Chad Fraser at Investing Daily.  “Canadian shoppers have long complained about products being more expensive in Canada than in the U.S., particularly in recent years, when the Canadian dollar has been trading near parity with the greenback. The Conservative federal government has also been paying attention to the issue. In his latest budget, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty eliminated $76 million of tariffs on certain goods entering the country, including baby clothing and ice skates, mainly to address this price gap.  “This is an important test. We’re going to take a few items . . . take the tariffs off them, and we’re going to see what happens to prices in Canada.” said Flaherty.”  Read more:  https://www.investingdaily.com/17412/inside-targets-canadian-invasion/

 

Thanks for reading…

 

Follow on Twitter @retaileyeretail