NEWSLETTER
RSS
MOBILE
HELP
SHARE
Email Confirmation
Last Trade:Change:
Summary:
The Company operates retail stores in various formats, which include: Discount Stores, Supercenters and Neighborhood Markets. View More
Last Trade:Change:
Summary:
The Company is a home improvement retailer which operates The Home Depot stores. View More
Last Trade:Change:
Summary:
The Company conduct its operations in three business segments: Kmart, Sears Domestic and Sears Canada. View More
H. Lee Scott, Jr.
Industry:
Retail
Biography:
Mr. Scott is the President and CEO of Wal-Mart and has served in that position since January 2000. Prior to this appointment, … View More
When the economy softens, the big discounters get hard results.
The biggest,
Wal-Mart Stores, said today that sales, excluding gasoline, at its U.S. stores open at least a year rose 2.6 percent in February. That was greater than analysts' forecasts and above the range of flat to 2 percent growth that the company had projected last month.
Wal-Mart pointed to strength in grocery, health, and wellness and entertainment goods. Housing products remained weak, the company said.
Since last fall, the company has been aggressively cutting prices to draw in shoppers that have been reluctant to spend amid rising fuel and food prices and sinking home prices.
But that just means that Wal-Mart is benefiting at the expense of retailers higher up the income chain.
AsLee Scott, the company's chief executive, said last month, "In a volatile economy, I believe we are well positioned to succeed."
Analysts have agreed.
"We believe Wal-Mart has the right strategy for the right time," Adrianne Shapria, an analyst with Goldman Sachs, said in a report last month.
February sales reports from other retailers may not come in quite as strong.
One that we will not know about is Macy's, parent of the Bloomingdale's and Macy's department stores. Vanessa O'Connell of the Wall Street Journal reports that Macy's will stop disclosing monthly sales figures, joiningSears, Home Depot, and Dollar General.
"There's obviously a common theme among all of these retailers," Ken Perkins, president of Retail Metrics, a research-consulting firm, told the Journal. "This is a trend when things get lean and difficult."
The biggest,
Wal-Mart Stores, said today that sales, excluding gasoline, at its U.S. stores open at least a year rose 2.6 percent in February. That was greater than analysts' forecasts and above the range of flat to 2 percent growth that the company had projected last month. Wal-Mart pointed to strength in grocery, health, and wellness and entertainment goods. Housing products remained weak, the company said.
Since last fall, the company has been aggressively cutting prices to draw in shoppers that have been reluctant to spend amid rising fuel and food prices and sinking home prices.
But that just means that Wal-Mart is benefiting at the expense of retailers higher up the income chain.
As
Lee Scott, the company's chief executive, said last month, "In a volatile economy, I believe we are well positioned to succeed."Analysts have agreed.
"We believe Wal-Mart has the right strategy for the right time," Adrianne Shapria, an analyst with Goldman Sachs, said in a report last month.
February sales reports from other retailers may not come in quite as strong.
One that we will not know about is Macy's, parent of the Bloomingdale's and Macy's department stores. Vanessa O'Connell of the Wall Street Journal reports that Macy's will stop disclosing monthly sales figures, joining
Sears, Home Depot, and Dollar General. "There's obviously a common theme among all of these retailers," Ken Perkins, president of Retail Metrics, a research-consulting firm, told the Journal. "This is a trend when things get lean and difficult."
Mobile