Online lifts Walmart sales

Article Excerpt

WALMART INC. $100 (New York symbol WMT; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 2.9 billion; Market cap: $290.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.6; Dividend yield: 2.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.walmart.com) is the world’s biggest retailer, with 11,300 outlets in 28 countries. In its fiscal 2019 fourth quarter, ended January 31, 2019, Walmart’s sales rose 1.9%, to $138.8 billion from $136.3 billion a year earlier. If you exclude the negative impact of currency rates, sales gained 3.1%. In the quarter, U.S. online sales jumped 43%. As a result, the company’s U.S. same-store sales rose 4.2%. Walmart’s overall earnings soared 69.5%, to $3.69 billion from $2.18 billion. Due to fewer shares outstanding, per-share earnings improved 74.0%, to $1.27 from $0.73. However, a $1.0 billion charge on the early repayment of debt depressed its year-earlier earnings. The company will now raise its quarterly dividend by 1.9%, to $0.53 a share from $0.52. The new annual rate of $2.12 yields 2.1%. Walmart expects same-store sales at its U.S. outlets to…