I don't think the DNA of Wal- Mart has changed at all. It's like a religious cult: it has a low-cost gospel to bring to the country and sees it as a divine duty to do that, and nothing is going to get in its way. It will do what it has to do and say what it needs to say to get there. |
I think it's a bit ho-hum. It's not a bad number, but if you open stores at 5 in the morning and give away free breakfasts and 4.3% is all you can do, in the most aggressive [day-after-Thanksgiving] campaign ever mounted by anyone, I think it says that the consumer doesn't have the money to spend. |
I think the natural foods industry has been a tremendous success as a cottage industry, and I think the larger players now are needing to take it to the next level and get the economies of scale that are due to major mainstream companies. |
It was a tough year for Wal-Mart given the macro-economic environment and its customer base being under pressure. |
It's an essential move. Winn-Dixie was in a downward spiral, and this kind of restructuring helps them pull out of it. If you've got a body that's sick, you perform major surgery. What we're seeing here is that major surgery. |
Shareholders basically have got more debt, more fees, more equities. |
The weather is not a good excuse for not outperforming. One is always tempted to have their eyes glaze over when retailers talk about the weather but the (impact) is real. |
There is a terribly fine line. So, what the retailers are doing is using computers to do the work for them so they can downgrade their staffing quality. |
There seems to be no sign of inflation. |
There's no breakout here, no 'brave new world' experience here, but at least there's no breakdown. So when you've got something that's teetering on financial insolvency that does better, it's sort of encouraging. |
They said they were investing in their growth, which is something we pay management to do. The fact that the market takes this perverse view is baffling. |
Wal-Mart's expansion in Brazil is an indication that they are attracted by the country's growth prospects. |
We've got momentum sellers. The company didn't beat the earnings forecast on the upside. |