Posted on 05/12/2005 8:08:27 AM PDT by TXBSAFH
Wal-Mart profit misses forecast; outlook weak
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. on Thursday reported a weaker-than-expected profit and said second-quarter results would miss Wall Street forecasts as steep energy prices and cool, wet weather cut spring sales.
Shares of Wal-Mart, which said gasoline prices would continue to curb consumer spending in the current quarter, fell 4 percent in premarket trading. The world's biggest retailer said it expects trends to improve in the second half and remained optimistic about the U.S. economy.
"Our results were not up to Wal-Mart standards," Chief Executive Officer Lee Scott said on a recorded message, citing steep oil prices and unusually cool, wet weather in parts of the United States.
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WalMart has a bunch of problems. Shopping there invariably means standing in long lines because they open as few registers as possible.
You also have to hunt all over for someone to help in departments like paint or garden.
A lot of the merchandise is priced low but falls apart quickly.
At least in our area WalMart has overbuilt. As soon as a new store opens up everyone goes there because it's clean and well-stocked and business falls off at the "old" one.
They have the shopping carts that lock the wheels five feet from the store entrance so you better find a place to park close.
The people who work there are almost always nice but seem overwhelmed.
Time to sell.
Yup, another anti-free market Walmart bashing thread. Move-on.org would be proud. Jeez.
What a ridiculous statement.
Singlehandedly?
By the time Wal-Mart became a serious nationwide operation in the early eighties, US manufacturers had already lost their competitiveness in every major industry: automotive, consumer electronic, steels, etc.
The only burgeoning sector in US manufacturing was computing and Wal-Mart has had very little to do with the decline of PC manufacturing in the US.
If Wal-Mart has had any impact on any major US industry it has been the textile industry - which was a low-wage industry to begin with.
Ultimately, the person you should blame is the American consumer for demanding affordable products.
"Our results were not up to Wal-Mart standards," Chief Executive Officer Lee Scott said on a recorded message, citing steep oil prices
Live by buying foreign...Die by buying foreign.
You're right, WalMart is so evil. Can't believe all the button pushing jobs that have been lost because they buy products for China.
If only they would bite the dust, then American programmers and scientists and engineers could finally pursue careers in the manufacturing industry!
In fact, what's even worse than the Chinese are those ******* machines. Why, if we just got rid of, say, cars for example, there would be countless more jobs for carriage drivers!
Down with replacing menial labor! More meaningless repetetive jobs for Americans! Only revitalizing our button-pushing industry can secure our continued dominance in the global economy!
I have done nothing but buy for the last 15 years. It has done quite well.
Walmart are paying a competitive wage to Chinese workers, and bringing them out of poverty. The Chinese state is finding out that the worst enemy of a totalitarian regime (apart from whoever the current Pope is) is a large well-to-do middle class.
while wal-mart is big, they weren't the only ones buying chinese goods, nor do they bear sole responsibility for putting american manufacturing "out of business." Target, K-mart, Best Buy, Home Depot, Lowes, and any other large national or regional chain of stores play a part when they purchase goods from overseas as well.
Come on in!!!!
WalMart is indeed start to show signs of its weakness and decline.
They have become nothing more than KMart circa 1984.
Cluttered Isles, not enough checkers on duty, dirty dingy stores, cheap poorly made merchandise... Folks will only put up with it for so long before they realize a few pennies more saves them tons of frustration, faster shopping and better products.
Growth by expansion only happens for so long, and then you have to remember what business you are in.. happened to Wendy's happened to Krispy Kreme, and looks like WalMart is in that space now... Will be interesting to see what happens.
Buy low, sell high. You bought low. Now's the time to sell.
Thats a slow year for them, too. Usually they're up over 300 a year.
Actually you can blame it on one of the biggest scams ever pulled on the Americans, and one of the worst trade policies ever invented.. "Free Trade" is a scam from day one, and there is NOTHING conservative about it... how that trainwreck got tied as mantra to the conservative politic is beyond me.
Naturally, Chinese workers would much rather be jobless and starving to death, but evil WalMart provides them with low paying jobs. The horror!
I couldn't have said that better myself.
Just wait till you see what losing that one dollar does to the stock price.
Counting the New Sam's Clubs, Neighborhood Markets, and General Merchandise stopres they are building about 400 new in the U.S.
I don't have the numbers for the foreign stores.
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