Walmart Profit Fell 8% in 4th Quarter

[mick silver]

Walmart Profit Fell 8% in 4th QuarterSource: NYT (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/19/business/walmart-q4-earnings.html)

Walmart (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/wal_mart_stores_inc/index.html?inline=nyt-org) said on Thursday that profit fell about 8 percent last quarter, and it lowered its sales forecast for this year, citing a strong dollar and the costs of a plan to close more than 200 stores worldwide.
Walmart, based in Bentonville, Ark., has been fighting for a firmer footing in a retail market increasingly dominated by the online behemoth Amazon.
Walmart’s efforts to entice more web and mobile customers resulted in 8 percent sales growth for the quarter, the company said. But e-commerce sales growth has been steadily declining for the last year, from 17 percent growth in the first quarter, despite heavy investments in the business.
In contrast, Amazon said sales rose 26 percent in its fourth quarter, compared with 15 percent sales growth in the first quarter.
Walmart executives cited challenges in international markets, especially China, Brazil and Britain. Last year, Walmart introduced a mobile payment application as a way to bridge the customer experience between its online and in-store sites. The executives said they would continue to build that service and expand the online sale of groceries from the 20 markets where it is offered already.
Shares of Walmart were down about 3 percent in late-afternoon trading on Thursday.
Sales during the recent holiday season slowed from the third quarter, Walmart said, and it reported fourth-quarter profit (http://s2.q4cdn.com/056532643/files/doc_financials/2016/Q4/Q4-FY16-press-release-final.pdf) of $4.57 billion, down 7.9 percent from the same period a year ago, on declining revenue and same-store sales.
For the current fiscal year, which began this month, sales are projected to be flat, whereas previous estimates called for growth of 3 to 4 percent.
Walmart is among the big retailers struggling to adapt to the popularity of online shopping. Last month, the company announced plans to close 269 stores (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/16/business/walmart-to-close-269-stores.html), including 154 in the United States, a move that will affect 16,000 workers.
In Walmart’s fourth quarter, sales at stores open at least a year, a crucial metric in retailing, rose 0.6 percent in the United States. That quarter included the critical holiday shopping season and was the sixth consecutive quarter of growth. The increase, though, fell short of the 1.5 percent growth in the third and fourth quarters a year ago. Customer visits to United States stores rose 0.7 percent, slowing from an increase of 1.7 percent in the third quarter.
“This past year has been a year of investment, operational improvement and change, even while we delivered solid growth,” said Doug McMillon, Walmart’s president and chief executive. “We do see an underlying strength in our Walmart U.S. business that wasn’t there a year ago.”
Quarterly revenue, which reached $129.7 billion, fell 1.4 percent from the year-ago period, with currency adjustments shaving off $4.8 billion.
Earnings per share were $1.43, compared with $1.53 a year ago. Costs associated with the store closings cut 20 cents off earnings per share, which was partly offset by tax-related gains of 14 cents a share. Excluding items, adjusted earnings per share were $1.49.
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For the full fiscal year, profit was $4.57 a share, or $4.59 excluding certain one-time items, compared with $4.99 the year before, and revenue was $482.1 billion, compared with $485.7 billion in the year-ago period.
Nordstrom, the luxury retailer, (http://investor.nordstrom.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=93295&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=2140704) also reported lackluster earnings (http://investor.nordstrom.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=93295&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=2140704) for the fourth quarter, which ended Jan
Nordstrom, the luxury retailer, (http://investor.nordstrom.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=93295&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=2140704) also reported lackluster earnings (http://investor.nordstrom.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=93295&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=2140704) for the fourth quarter, which ended Jan. 30, and shares of the retailer fell more than 6 percent in after-hours trading. The company’s fourth-quarter profit fell 29 percent from the previous year’s quarter, and it warned that earnings per share in the first half of its fiscal 2016 could fall further.
Nordstrom said the fourth-quarter profit of $180 million, or $1 a share, included a charge of 17 cents a share for asset impairment. But even without that charge, the results fell short of what analysts were expecting.
While overall sales rose 5.2 percent in the quarter, and 7.5 percent for the year, its comparable sales, or those in stores open more than a year, rose by about 1 percent.
Nordstrom got better results from online sales and sales through its discount stores.
Full-price store net sales fell 2.5 percent, and same-store sales fell 3.2 percent. Aales through Nordstrom.com rose 11 percent and those at Nordstrom Rack and NordstromRack.com/HauteLook (http://nordstromrack.com/HauteLook) rose 12 percent.
The company also said earnings per share through the first half of 2016 could fall 30 percent, reflecting last year’s sale of its credit receivables and the costs of new stores and other growth projects.

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[cheka.]

would be a good addition to my 'revenue fell' thread:

Sales during the recent holiday season slowed from the third quarter, Walmart said, and it reported fourth-quarter profit of $4.57 billion, down 7.9 percent from the same period a year ago, on declining revenue and same-store sales

[Joshua01]

I'm sorry...why do I give a rat's ass?

[Cebu_4_2]

I'm sorry...why do I give a rat's ass?

Indication of reality in the USi is all.

[Glass]

yes it seems a good thing is happening and yes some commentators out there are squealing like stuck pigs.

If walmart goes broke it would be a good thing on many levels. Tens of thousands of people will not be working for slave wages and having to go to the Govt for handouts.

Walmart wont be taking Govt welfare and neither will the employees. I think it's a win win.

[Cebu_4_2]

yes it seems a good thing is happening and yes some commentators out there are squealing like stuck pigs.

If walmart goes broke it would be a good thing on many levels. Tens of thousands of people will not be working for slave wages and having to go to the Govt for handouts.

Walmart wont be taking Govt welfare and neither will the employees. I think it's a win win.

Actually walmart people make decent wages. A 2 year cashier makes 15 bux. And they also have full medical with the option of including family. Not sure who is wanting to tear it down. Just saying.

[Glass]

Actually walmart people make decent wages. A 2 year cashier makes 15 bux. And they also have full medical with the option of including family. Not sure who is wanting to tear it down. Just saying.

I thought the $15/hr was a government mandated pay rise which is what precipitated the Walmart problem. Rememering they closed 5 or 6 stores due to "plumbing problems" and everyone thought they were going to become FEMA camps. They just could not run those stores at a profit.

And I think (in my head) that Walmart gets significant tax breaks on start up costs, payrolls and so on to setup their stores in some communities. Like Munger and Buuffet I think their business model relies heavily on Government subsidies which end up as IRS claims against the tax payers.

Then they tell people who can't survive on the $15/hr zero hour contracts to hook up some food stamps. It's a big swirling toilet bowl of bludging off the tax payer. Someone pulled the handle and you can hear the gurgling as it all gets flushed away.

[Horn]

Is all cause'a Hitch gettin that bottle of $40 maple syrup for $5.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVJXateXbgM

[Cebu_4_2]

I thought the $15/hr was a government mandated pay rise which is what precipitated the Walmart problem. Rememering they closed 5 or 6 stores due to "plumbing problems" and everyone thought they were going to become FEMA camps. They just could not run those stores at a profit.

And I think (in my head) that Walmart gets significant tax breaks on start up costs, payrolls and so on to setup their stores in some communities. Like Munger and Buuffet I think their business model relies heavily on Government subsidies which end up as IRS claims against the tax payers.

Then they tell people who can't survive on the $15/hr zero hour contracts to hook up some food stamps. It's a big swirling toilet bowl of bludging off the tax payer. Someone pulled the handle and you can hear the gurgling as it all gets flushed away.

They might but it's the biggest game in most towns. Work and get 15 bux or do some shitty factory jub for 8 bux breathing that crap. I understand what your saying but it don't really work in the real world right now.

[Joshua01]

Indication of reality in the USi is all.


8% of billions and billion of dollars? Sheet, that ain't so bad

[Glass]

I get it and I'm being harsh but the reality is that this kind of crap has to stop and it appears to be.

Commuinities are going to be doing it really tough when these places close down, because they are now the only game in town.

But there in lies the opportunity for the return of familt run markets, Co-Ops and so on. Equally good wages, smaller customer focused businesses. I see opportunities in communities that Walmart just doesn't provide.

You know we have a booming grocery delivery sector here now. Granted it's mainly run by the two grocery (supermarket) chains we have here but its a return, in a way to how it was before the super markets started sprouting up.

I remember we had bread delivered to the door, milk delivered to the door and we also had a green grocer who used to drive a truck around and you bought stuff off the back. Of course health and safety would crush that kind of thing now but trucks are easily refridgerated now when they were not back then.

Before my time I'm told there also used to be a butchers truck and an ice truck who delivered ice for the coolgardie safe (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coolgardie_safe) - evaporative food chest.

So when Walmart shuts up shop in your area, get a co-op going and do home delivery. Even if delivery is only for dry goods.

[Cebu_4_2]

I get it and I'm being harsh but the reality is that this kind of crap has to stop and it appears to be.

Commuinities are going to be doing it really tough when these places close down, because they are now the only game in town.

But there in lies the opportunity for the return of familt run markets, Co-Ops and so on. Equally good wages, smaller customer focused businesses. I see opportunities in communities that Walmart just doesn't provide.

You know we have a booming grocery delivery sector here now. Granted it's mainly run by the two grocery (supermarket) chains we have here but its a return, in a way to how it was before the super markets started sprouting up.

I remember we had bread delivered to the door, milk delivered to the door and we also had a green grocer who used to drive a truck around and you bought stuff off the back. Of course health and safety would crush that kind of thing now but trucks are easily refridgerated now when they were not back then.

Before my time I'm told there also used to be a butchers truck and an ice truck who delivered ice for the coolgardie safe (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coolgardie_safe) - evaporative food chest.

So when Walmart shuts up shop in your area, get a co-op going and do home delivery. Even if delivery is only for dry goods.

Never forgot that. Once sprogs got into the area they would
crawel through milk chutes and open the doors while people worked. I stayed with my grandma and she cut off a bunch of fingers. I had no clue what as going on besides fried chicken. Thinking back she had no fear and didn't have a gun handy. They were there but she never went for them.

[Joshua01]

Never forgot that. Once sprogs got into the area they would
crawel through milk chutes and open the doors while people worked. I stayed with my grandma and she cut off a bunch of fingers. I had no clue what as going on besides fried chicken. Thinking back she had no fear and didn't have a gun handy. They were there but she never went for them.
In other words, we can survive quite nicely without Walmart....if we want to

[Cebu_4_2]

QUOTE=Joshua01;818543]In other words, we can survive quite nicely without Walmart....if we want to[/QUOTE]

If walmart dissapeared we would have a big repeat of the '60s but back then we didn't depend on police or anythinf else. Everything was self sustaining.

[Joshua01]

QUOTE=Joshua01;818543]In other words, we can survive quite nicely without Walmart....if we want to

If Walmart disappeared we would have a big repeat of the '60s but back then we didn't depend on police or anything else. Everything was self sustaining.

We could teach the youngin's how it gets done

[Cebu_4_2]

If walmart dissapeared we would have a big repeat of the '60s but back then we didn't depend on police or anythinf else. Everything was self sustaining.
...

[cheka.]

walmart could be in a world of hurt if the import tariff movement catches fire

trump is ONLY one that's mentioned support for that. hellary/burnee with their union voters SHOULD BE screaming this from top of lungs

but no

free trade = one of the great scams on nyc/dc resume. outsource all of YOUR jobs....while we make bank keeping ours

the switch from tariffs to income tax on WAGES was a death blow to the working class, dwarfed only by creation of federal reserve

[Glass]

sshhh I think Ponce is listening in

Big chance for the little stores......think about it............ V (http://gold-silver.us/forum/showthread.php?88051-Big-chance-for-the-little-stores-think-about-it-V)

[cheka.]

sshhh I think Ponce is listening in

Big chance for the little stores......think about it............ V (http://gold-silver.us/forum/showthread.php?88051-Big-chance-for-the-little-stores-think-about-it-V)

naw. people haven't changed -- price is only thing that matters. if walmart has a cold, little stores have cancer

sporting goods chain just announced shutting ALL stores in texas (sports authority)

[Glass]

I don't get the price is all that matters thing. I do see it in action. People shooting themselves in the foot.

Supermarket brands are the big thing here. The super markets have pushed companies into branding their products with the super markets name. Eventually the supplier is only supplying that one super market and before you know it the company has lost independence and falls into ownership of the Super markets.

It is so bad that even remainder private or family owned suppliers are only available in one of the two super market chains. You cannot get them at the other chain.

I tried to have a discussion with a guy who was complaining that the organic free range chicken breasts cost $2 more per kilo (USD $1 x 2lbs) than the supermarket brand. I said well if no one supports that company they will eventually go bust and you won't have any purchasing choice. Being clearly government educated and government supported it did not register.

That companies products are no longer available. I buy dry groceries at one of these chains but I choose independent Australian companies when I can find their products, I buy my meat from a local and very good butcher. I can fry my meat instead of broiling it because there is not so much added water for bulk. I buy my fresh groceries from a local F & V. Vietnamese owned but local none the less. The girls that work there are pretty special to look at as well. I don't know it is all family but everyone has been there for the 10+ years I've been going.

[cheka.]

http://bizbeatblog.dallasnews.com/2016/02/report-sports-authority-employees-told-texas-stores-closing.html/

Sports Authority, a company that gobbled up regional sporting goods retailers including Texas-based Oshman’s Sporting Goods in the late 1990s and early 2000s to become a national chain, is giving up on Texas.

The Englewood, Colo.-based retailer is closing all 25 of its Texas stores, according to store employees. That includes nine stores in North Texas, where it competes with the largest U.S. sporting goods chains, No. 1 Dick’s Sporting Goods and No. 2 Academy Sports & Outdoors.

Sports Authority didn’t respond to a request for an interview. The Denver Post quoted a source Wednesday saying the company is closing 140 of its 450 stores as reports have surfaced in recent weeks that it’s preparing to file for bankruptcy.

In January, the company missed a $21 million interest payment on its $643 million in debt. Sports Authority was acquired in 2006 in a $1.4 billion leveraged buyout by Los Angeles-based private equity firm Leonard Green & Partners. Bloomberg News and others have been reporting for weeks that Sports Authority Inc. was preparing to file for bankruptcy as it faced a debt payment. Once the biggest U.S. sporting goods chain, Sports Authority was reportedly in talks with lenders including TPG Capital Management of Fort Worth on a deal to reorganize in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.

Like toys, books, home goods, electronics and office supplies before them, big box specialty chains have struggled as they have opened too many stores and online shopping continued to pluck customers from its stores.

Sports Authority employees were told last week that the big box chain is closing its Texas stores, but on Wednesday employees said they didn’t know when the stores are closing.

Much of the store is on clearance, but a lot of merchandise was being packing up into boxes and shrink-wrapped on pallets. A large truck arrived to the Caruth Plaza store Wedenesday around noon to take away merchandise.

Customers interviewed in Dallas at the Caruth Plaza store weren’t surprised, saying the store hasn’t been very busy when they shop there.

Rosa Pena of Dallas said she’s there about once a month and was there Wednesday to buy weighted gloves. “I like their tennis shoes, their clothes are good quality,” Pena said. She doesn’t shop online, but said she understands there’s a lot of competition.

Junior Tran, 34, of Dallas said he’s an online shopper, but not for clothing, which is what he came to buy on Wednesday. It was the his first time he’d shopped the chain in a while. “I’ve been shopping at Dick’s (Sporting Goods) the last few times,” he said.

“It’s just the way things are going,” Tran said, whether it’s competition from online or Wal-Mart coming to town. “I’m not surprised.”

Sports Authority closed a store in McKinney on Christmas Eve several others a few years ago. Its remaining stores closing soon are in Dallas’ Caruth Plaza, on LBJ Freeway in Farmers Branch, Denton, Frisco, Fort Worth, Mansfield, Rockwall and two in Plano.

In Texas, Sports Authority has “well located stores in strong regional pockets,” said Jeff Kittleson, senior vice president of CBRE’s retail services in Dallas. “I think there will be a garden variety of big box users who will want to reposition stores into these locations.”

On a national scale, Dick’s Sporting Goods will benefit in the long term from Sports Authority’s retrenchment, according to a Credit Suisse report last month that estimated 40 percent of Dick’s stores overlap within 10 miles of a Sports Authority.

Too many stores is one of the key concerns for investors of sporting goods retailers, said Credit Suisse, adding “that pressure could be moderating” with Sports Authority’s restructuring.

Academy Sports & Outdoors has been an aggressive competitor. The Katy-based retailer had twice as many stores as Sports Authority in North Texas. It operates 209 stores in 15 states including 18 in Dallas-Fort Worth. The company had sales last year of $4.6 billion, only behind Dick’s annual sales of $6.8 billion.

Texas is a big market for sporting goods chains. Hibbett Sports also have big footprints in the state. The biggest sports apparel brands are opening their own stores. NorthPark Center, which already has a large Nike store, is getting the first Under Armour store in the market this spring.

Then there’s the big outdoors chains: Bass Pro Shops has stores in Garland, Grapevine, Harlingen, Katy, Pearland, Round Rock and San Antonio. Cabela’s Texas stores are in Allen, Buda, Fort Worth, League City, Lubbock and Waco.

The consolidation may be spreading. Since before Christmas, there have been strong reports that Bass Pro Shops may be buying Cabela’s.

[Glass]

someone buying Cabela's is pretty big news to me. I got the impression that it is a big operation. Anyone had direct experience with them? Are they?

[cheka.]

someone buying Cabela's is pretty big news to me. I got the impression that it is a big operation. Anyone had direct experience with them? Are they?

academy is the big dog in texas - mid sized stores. cabelas and pro shop building some giant stores here and there

[Horn]

More than likely all those old Walmarts will be turned into. gov shelters for when the rest of the town is set on fire by rioters.