All Hail Wal-Mart (WMT)

Posted: November 6, 2008 at 8:04 am

WmtThe magnificence of being big and having extraordinary buying power put Wal-Mart (WMT) at the head of the retailing industry again. It can cut prices to consumers in a way that would ruin its competition.

Those factors showed up in same-store sales for October.

The improvement over October of last month was 2.4%. Most analysts expected a little better than half of that.

"Customer comparable traffic is higher and our seasonal merchandising events are delivering improved sales," said Eduardo Castro-Wright, Walmart U.S. president and chief executive officer. "Highly competitive pricing, especially on basics throughout the store, is driving these results."

And, the rest of the industry can go to hell.

WMT shares look ready to move up at the open.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Read more: Retail
    • Featured Article:

    The 15 CEOs Who Should Be Paid $1 A Year

    Lee Iacocca, Chrysler’s CEO in 1979, worked for $1 a year while his company paid back taxpayers $1.2 billion in loan guarantees. Edward Liddy, former CEO of Allstate (ALL) was paid $1 a year when he stepped in to run the crumbling AIG (AIG) as the request of Henry Paulson, who was Treasury Secretary at [...]

    Read Full Story »
    Pages: 1 2 3 4