WMT is a dividend superstar, increasing the dividend every year for the last 1,000 years or so. It's trading at an historically low PE of around 14, and just keeps going. WMT is a very nice defensive stock, with a beta of 0.31, it rarely moves in sync with the broader market. This is a nice entry point for WMT.
The price is down today due to disappointing earnings in the fourth quarter. Soft consumer spending and crappy weather are the main culprits. A common theme among retailers. Here are some highlights:
Wal-Mart earnings per share (EPS) were $1.34, down from $1.67 the same quarter a year ago; it had been projected to report EPS of $1.37.
For the full fiscal year 2014, Wal-Mart delivered EPS of $4.85 - a 2% increase over fiscal 2013's EPS of $5.01, but missing Wall Street expectations of an EPS between $5.11 and $5.21 per share.
The brightest news for Wal-Mart this morning was the company's global online sales and acquisitions, which topped $10 billion (a 30% increase compared to last year).
"We will continue to grow our global business by focusing on customers and serving them how they want to be served," Walmart Chief Executive Officer Doug McMillion said with earnings release this morning. "Improving store sales figures will be a priority, and we'll focus on being even stronger item and category merchants, delivering value and improving our service levels. We'll remain focused on our expense structure, and innovate to improve productivity and aid our ability to deliver everyday low prices."
I'm taking the long view. Great company at a good price today, happy to hold for a very long time.
Chump
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