Wal-Mart finally reverses US sales slump
The company says same-store numbers are on the mend after 9 straight quarters of decline.
At the company's annual analyst meeting Wednesday, executives said same-store sales at U.S. stores have been rising for the past three months. Same-store sales make up about 98% of Wal-Mart's total U.S. sales.
The improvement is enough that Wal-Mart will likely show positive U.S. growth when it reports quarterly earnings next month.
Post continues below.
"From about May we have been on an upward trend," said Wal-Mart's U.S. president, according to The Wall Street Journal. The company plans to build on the momentum by upping its U.S. store openings to between 210 and 235 in the next fiscal year. Previously it had planned only 142 to 150.
Wal-Mart shares rose less than 1% Wednesday to close at $55.20. The stock has been stagnant all year, generally hovering between $51 and $56.
The retailer fell on tough times as the economy spiraled. Wal-Mart tried to woo shoppers who were trading down from Target (TGT) and other stores, but it ended up alienating some of its regular customers. Traffic fell as customers fled to dollar stores for shampoo and other household items.
Wal-Mart realized it needed to go smaller to compete. Now it says its new supercenters will average only 90,000 to 120,000 square feet, Reuters reports. The supercenters of the past were about 185,000 square feet.
The company is also focused on small to medium-sized stores and plans to open 80 to 100 next year. Most of those will be Neighborhood Markets, which are similar to traditional grocery stores.
| Tags: | Kim PetersonretailTGTWMT |
I don't like or need Wal-Mart. They have screwed their employees and their customers and will continue to. Since "Sam" died they have gone all to hell in a hand basket. His philosophy was American made first. Now it's what ever cheap crap made in third world countries by underpaid and exploited workers.
I spend my money at "local" stores that have a majority of American made products. Especially groceries. I won't buy any foods that come from China. I won't poison my family to save a buck or two.
I don't care how bad the economy gets. I will not shop at Wal-Mart.
I have to say that we buy less from WalMart then we did a year ago. Especially with food items.
Their fresh meat is really not good, their sale items are OK. But if your not careful the regular priced stuff will make up for what you thought you saved. My wife does most of the shopping and Aldi Foods is her store of choice for many food items. Also many times local grocery ads typically beat Walmart on those advertised items.
Walmart has the saddest employees I've ever seen. Certainly don't live up to the ads where the nice old man says "If you don't have a smile I'll give you one of mine". I always feel slimed when I go to Walmart (which isn't very often). They really need to train their employees better (at least in New Mexico) and probably treat them better. A happy employee is a good employee. Most aren't even marginal.
steelersrule -
We need to figure out how to compete with the world we now live in. It's not the 1960's anymore.
I have yet to hear much from Washington about this. Probably because no one wants to face the hard choices we will have to make.
But all we have to do is look at Europe. They are going down fast. We need to learn from their mistakes.
We simply can't let America go down because we are afraid of hard work. Too many people gave their lives for us to go out like that. It's time to stop complaining, and start working. Yes, that means doing jobs you might not like. Someone has to do it. Someone has to work at Walmart - don't rub it in their faces - at least they are working for their money instead of getting it handed to them.
I don't think Walmart will fail. They do need to down size; these huge square block supercenters are just too much for me to walk from one end of the store to the other.
I rarely go to Walmart anymore, the brands I liked in jeans are no longer there. I did buy paper goods and detergent but I go to Dollar Store for it now.
One big reason is because the Walmart near me in east Tucson, is always dirty, crowded, the aisles are so full of junk I can't navigate my way around, groups of people, 5 to 8, stop in the middle of an aisle to visit, shoppers with carts do not keep to the right (as they should, same as driving), abandon their carts in the middle of one of the large aisles, and are a little rude, plus kids running wild. No manners
HOPE YOU READ THIS WALMART--PLUS WE NEED A STORE IN FAR EAST OR RITA RANCH AREA.
All Walmart needs is better staff to work there, most Walmart employees seem to not give a crap about being there let alone trying to help you with anything. I think Walmart should be paying them a little more than the minimum wage, you guys are raking in the money, share some with the people that are making it for you. Happy employees bring happy customers ....Just my 2 cents
Increase only due to xmas. Personally I avoid that place , they never have enough cash registers open if I have more than 1 person in front of me I just leave the cart. I am disappointed they do not match coupons and fired the only cashier that promoted prioce match policies. They are always changing stuff and cannot consistently find simple things.
MORE ON MSN MONEY
DATA PROVIDERS
Copyright © 2013 Microsoft. All rights reserved.
Quotes are real-time for NASDAQ, NYSE and AMEX. See delay times for other exchanges.
Fundamental company data and historical chart data provided by Thomson Reuters (click for restrictions). Real-time quotes provided by BATS Exchange. Real-time index quotes and delayed quotes supplied by Interactive Data Real-Time Services. Fund summary, fund performance and dividend data provided by Morningstar Inc. Analyst recommendations provided by Zacks Investment Research. StockScouter data provided by Verus Analytics. IPO data provided by Hoover's Inc. Index membership data provided by SIX Financial Information.
Japanese stock price data provided by Nomura Research Institute Ltd.; quotes delayed 20 minutes. Canadian fund data provided by CANNEX Financial Exchanges Ltd.
STOCK SCOUTER
StockScouter rates stocks from 1 to 10, with 10 being the best, using a system of advanced mathematics to determine a stock's expected risk and return. Ratings are displayed on a bell curve, meaning there will be fewer ratings of 1 and 10 and far more of 4 through 7.
127 | 269 | 462 | 588 | 658 | 615 | 645 | 431 | 263 | 138 |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
LATEST POSTS
All hail the bull market, which ended the week with a big rally. But it also is starting to look a little like 1987, which suffered an epic blow-out.
FIDELITY VIEWPOINTS
- How to sell covered calls - Fidelity Investments
- Savvy year-end tax moves to consider now - Fidelity Investments
- Seven ways to prepare for tax changes
- Five reasons an annual review is crucial - Fidelity Investments
- Take a look at mid caps now - Fidelity Investments
- State of the sector: Health care - Fidelity Investments
VIDEO ON MSN MONEY
ABOUT
Top Stocks provides analysis about the most noteworthy stocks in the market each day, combining some of the best content from around the MSN Money site and the rest of the Web.
Contributors include professional investors and journalists affiliated with MSN Money.
Follow us on Twitter @topstocksmsn.