Walmart bulks up online operations

Article Excerpt

Walmart continues to aggressively build its e-commerce operations in response to strong competition from online giant Amazon.com. In addition, it’s making better use of its existing stores and distribution networks to speed up the delivery of online purchases. The company is also making big investments in both Chinese and Indian e-commerce retailers. While costs related to those deals will hurt Walmart’s short-term earnings, more and more consumers in both countries shop online. That growing demand should boost the company long-term gains. WALMART INC. $88 (New York symbol WMT; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 2.95 billion; Market cap: $259.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.5; Dividend yield: 2.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.walmart.com) opened its first store in Rogers, Arkansas, in 1962. It has since grown to become the world’s biggest retailer, with 11,717 outlets (as of April 30, 2018) in 28 countries. These stores serve a total of 270 million customers each week. The company’s 4,761 stores in the U.S. include 3,561 supercentres. Through the…