WWTBAM Bored

US retail giant Wal-Mart Stores Thursday reported a 21 percent drop in quarterly earnings due to weak US sales, and gave a tepid forecast for the upcoming year.

That's probably due to their core shoppers wages being so low they can barely afford to heat their homes.

My wife has done her part through; her daughter is growing an inch a month so constantly needs new clothes.

Bob Juch wrote: My wife has done her part through; her daughter is growing an inch a month so constantly needs new clothes.

As I learned when I married a woman with children, when it comes to paying bills, it's "our" daughter.

silverscreenselect wrote:

Bob Juch wrote: My wife has done her part through; her daughter is growing an inch a month so constantly needs new clothes.

As I learned when I married a woman with children, when it comes to paying bills, it's "our" daughter.

I have learned that in my case that's only when it comes to paying bills.

Estonut wrote:Why Mike Rowe Doesn’t “Give a Crap” About Your Feelings for Walmart

We'll see if Walmart keeps that promise. They can easily say, "Oh sorry, we had falling sales so have to keep importing crap from China."

Bob Juch wrote:

Estonut wrote:Why Mike Rowe Doesn’t “Give a Crap” About Your Feelings for Walmart

We'll see if Walmart keeps that promise. They can easily say, "Oh sorry, we had falling sales so have to keep importing crap from China."

The Walmart commercial, called "I Am a Factory," perfectly represents what Mike is about. It accompanies Wal-Mart's announcement of an initiative to purchase $250 billion of American-made products over the next 10 years.

Walmart's most recent annual revenue was $476.3 billion. The announcement about buying $25 billion per year of American-made products seems absurdly low. I would guess that they already buy a lot more than $25 billion/year in American-made products.

TheConfessor wrote:Walmart's most recent annual revenue was $476.3 billion. The announcement about buying $25 billion per year of American-made products seems absurdly low. I would guess that they already buy a lot more than $25 billion/year in American-made products.

Using their 2013 Annual 10-K and making a few assumptions (splitting US cost of sales based on entire company %) I get U.S. Cost of Sales (not including fuel for Sam's club but including for Walmart stores because it isn't separately reported) of approximately $250 billion. Assuming cost of product, labor, overhead (stores,utilities, distribution) are split evenly (a huge assumption because I could not find anything providing insight) that leaves about $75 billion of product cost for US sales.

Are they buying a third of their stuff made in the USA? Its a big number, but a lot of their sales are groceries and I'd wager most (at least 75% for grocery) is US produced. Grocery is 55% of their revenue. Assuming 75% purchased is US, and assuming the margin is the same as on non-food items (which is unrealistic) that means they buy $30 billion in US produced food.

So there is your $25 billion in US goods (all food).

The above wouldn't stand up to any real challenges, but good enough for the Huffintonpostish reporter that I am.

BackInTex wrote: I get U.S. Cost of Sales (not including fuel for Sam's club but including for Walmart stores because it isn't separately reported) of approximately $250 billion. Assuming cost of product, labor, overhead (stores,utilities, distribution) are split evenly (a huge assumption because I could not find anything providing insight) that leaves about $75 billion of product cost for US sales.

Assuming the cost of sales is $250 billion, then $75 billion seems very low because Wal Mart operates on a very low margin in comparison to a lot of other companies.

silverscreenselect wrote:

BackInTex wrote: I get U.S. Cost of Sales (not including fuel for Sam's club but including for Walmart stores because it isn't separately reported) of approximately $250 billion. Assuming cost of product, labor, overhead (stores,utilities, distribution) are split evenly (a huge assumption because I could not find anything providing insight) that leaves about $75 billion of product cost for US sales.

Assuming the cost of sales is $250 billion, then $75 billion seems very low because Wal Mart operates on a very low margin in comparison to a lot of other companies.

It's not all that low:

.................................Q4 (Oct '13) 2013
Net profit margin.........3.35%..........3.78%
Operating margin........5.45%..........5.93%
EBITD margin.............-................. 7.74%
Return on average assets 7.56%.....8.96%

BackInTex wrote:

TheConfessor wrote:Walmart's most recent annual revenue was $476.3 billion. The announcement about buying $25 billion per year of American-made products seems absurdly low. I would guess that they already buy a lot more than $25 billion/year in American-made products.

Using their 2013 Annual 10-K and making a few assumptions (splitting US cost of sales based on entire company %) I get U.S. Cost of Sales (not including fuel for Sam's club but including for Walmart stores because it isn't separately reported) of approximately $250 billion. Assuming cost of product, labor, overhead (stores,utilities, distribution) are split evenly (a huge assumption because I could not find anything providing insight) that leaves about $75 billion of product cost for US sales.

Are they buying a third of their stuff made in the USA? Its a big number, but a lot of their sales are groceries and I'd wager most (at least 75% for grocery) is US produced. Grocery is 55% of their revenue. Assuming 75% purchased is US, and assuming the margin is the same as on non-food items (which is unrealistic) that means they buy $30 billion in US produced food.

So there is your $25 billion in US goods (all food).

The above wouldn't stand up to any real challenges, but good enough for the Huffintonpostish reporter that I am.

Huffintonpostish? Don't you mean DailyCallerish?

silverscreenselect wrote:

BackInTex wrote: I get U.S. Cost of Sales (not including fuel for Sam's club but including for Walmart stores because it isn't separately reported) of approximately $250 billion. Assuming cost of product, labor, overhead (stores,utilities, distribution) are split evenly (a huge assumption because I could not find anything providing insight) that leaves about $75 billion of product cost for US sales.

Assuming the cost of sales is $250 billion, then $75 billion seems very low because Wal Mart operates on a very low margin in comparison to a lot of other companies.

Margin, whether high or low, whether gross or operating, is the difference betwen revenue and costs included in the measure. The $250 is that cost. How that cost is split between cost of goods, cost of labor, and overhead costs is irrelevent in the metric (margin) you are referencing. My guess is the $75 may be high as the final cost to Walmart once the item is on the shelf includes a lot of labor, distribution costs (including warehouses, trucks, fuel) and the cost to build and maintain the brick and mortar store. Something that costs $5 from China may cost $10 to get off the boat, shipped to the distribution center, put on another truck, shipped to a store, unloaded, stocked, etc. I don't know.