You are now subscribed
Your newsletter sign-up was successful
Want to add more newsletters?
Delivered daily
Kiplinger Today
Profit and prosper with the best of Kiplinger's advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and much more delivered daily. Smart money moves start here.
Sent five days a week
Kiplinger A Step Ahead
Get practical help to make better financial decisions in your everyday life, from spending to savings on top deals.
Delivered daily
Kiplinger Closing Bell
Get today's biggest financial and investing headlines delivered to your inbox every day the U.S. stock market is open.
Sent twice a week
Kiplinger Adviser Intel
Financial pros across the country share best practices and fresh tactics to preserve and grow your wealth.
Delivered weekly
Kiplinger Tax Tips
Trim your federal and state tax bills with practical tax-planning and tax-cutting strategies.
Sent twice a week
Kiplinger Retirement Tips
Your twice-a-week guide to planning and enjoying a financially secure and richly rewarding retirement
Sent bimonthly.
Kiplinger Adviser Angle
Insights for advisers, wealth managers and other financial professionals.
Sent twice a week
Kiplinger Investing Weekly
Your twice-a-week roundup of promising stocks, funds, companies and industries you should consider, ones you should avoid, and why.
Sent weekly for six weeks
Kiplinger Invest for Retirement
Your step-by-step six-part series on how to invest for retirement, from devising a successful strategy to exactly which investments to choose.
This Friday is a big day for Wal-Mart investors. The world's largest retailer holds its annual stockholders' meeting in Arkansas in the morning and follows in the afternoon with a three-hour analysts' session. Both will be webcast at www.walmart.com, so if there are any surprises, they'll be live and echo worldwide.
A couple of days before the gatherings, Wal-Mart (symbol WMT) announced that May sales would be at the low end of the expected range. That, plus the market's general tumble, dragged the share price down to $48 on Tuesday. The company attributed the disappointing sales to Mother's Day coming too early this year for workers who got paid on May 15 and, once again, to the high cost of gasoline. Yet April sales were strong, and Wal-Mart shares spent most of May climbing from $45 to $50, so the energy excuse is debatable. Besides, affluent shoppers who are more annoyed than harmed by $50 fill-ups could deem it worthwhile to save a few bucks on this and that at Wal-Mart rather than pay more at a standard supermarket. And that no longer means slumming. Newer Wal-Mart Supercenters, which sell groceries, are at least as spiffy as many a Safeway or a Kroger supermarket.
Given that fuel isn't going to get cheaper, you might as well stop reading now if your opinion of Wal-Mart starts and stops at the gas pump -- you'll probably never buy this stock. That would be shortsighted. True, the shares are about where they were in 1999. But Wal-Mart remains a great company, and its stock is as cheap as it's ever been. The company sports a high return on equity (23%, compared with 18% ten years ago) and a historically modest price-earnings ratio of 16 (based on estimated earnings of $2.94 per share for the year ending next January).
From just $107.88 $24.99 for Kiplinger Personal Finance
Become a smarter, better informed investor. Subscribe from just $107.88 $24.99, plus get up to 4 Special Issues
Sign up for Kiplinger’s Free Newsletters
Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and more - straight to your e-mail.
Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice - straight to your e-mail.
Moreover, Wal-Mart hasn't saturated the American landscape as much as you might think it has. There are 215 Wal-Marts (including Sam's Club stores) in Florida and 194 in California. But there are more than 400 in Texas. And there are still plenty of global opportunities. China, for instance, contains just 56 Wal-Mart stores.
Maybe nothing much will emerge from Friday's sessions. But if there is news, odds are that it's more likely to be favorable than harmful.
--Jeffrey Kosnett
-
Dow Adds 1,206 Points to Top 50,000: Stock Market TodayThe S&P 500 and Nasdaq also had strong finishes to a volatile week, with beaten-down tech stocks outperforming.
-
Ask the Tax Editor: Federal Income Tax DeductionsAsk the Editor In this week's Ask the Editor Q&A, Joy Taylor answers questions on federal income tax deductions
-
States With No-Fault Car Insurance Laws (and How No-Fault Car Insurance Works)A breakdown of the confusing rules around no-fault car insurance in every state where it exists.
-
If You'd Put $1,000 Into AMD Stock 20 Years Ago, Here's What You'd Have TodayAdvanced Micro Devices stock is soaring thanks to AI, but as a buy-and-hold bet, it's been a market laggard.
-
If You'd Put $1,000 Into UPS Stock 20 Years Ago, Here's What You'd Have TodayUnited Parcel Service stock has been a massive long-term laggard.
-
How the Stock Market Performed in the First Year of Trump's Second TermSix months after President Donald Trump's inauguration, take a look at how the stock market has performed.
-
If You'd Put $1,000 Into Lowe's Stock 20 Years Ago, Here's What You'd Have TodayLowe's stock has delivered disappointing returns recently, but it's been a great holding for truly patient investors.
-
If You'd Put $1,000 Into 3M Stock 20 Years Ago, Here's What You'd Have TodayMMM stock has been a pit of despair for truly long-term shareholders.
-
AI Stocks Lead Nasdaq's 398-Point Nosedive: Stock Market TodayThe major stock market indexes do not yet reflect the bullish tendencies of sector rotation and broadening participation.
-
If You'd Put $1,000 Into Coca-Cola Stock 20 Years Ago, Here's What You'd Have TodayEven with its reliable dividend growth and generous stock buybacks, Coca-Cola has underperformed the broad market in the long term.
-
If You Put $1,000 into Qualcomm Stock 20 Years Ago, Here's What You Would Have TodayQualcomm stock has been a big disappointment for truly long-term investors.
