Walmart & Sam’s:  Dissecting the 11/14/13 Earnings Call:

Rosalind Brewer on Sam’s

* Q3: opened 13 new and relocated clubs.

* Sam’s Club comp of 1.1% without fuel.

* Comp traffic grew 2.4% and comp ticket by 1.3% driven by softness in our tobacco business.

* Grocery and beverage: low single-digit comp.

* Technology and entertainment:  mid-single-digit negative comp.

* Home and apparel:  mid-single-digit comp.

* Apparel and jewelry: double-digit comp.

* Membership income grew 8.1%

* Q3 operating income grew to $466 million, an increase of 9.4% over last year.

* Q4: plan to open two new clubs and one relocated club.

* Q4: plan to deliver a club comp sales increase excluding fuel, a flat to 2% for the 14 week ending January 31, 2014.

 

 Mike Duke

* Walmart U.S. grew net sales 2.4% to nearly $68 billion in the third quarter. Comp sales declined 0.3%.

* Traffic increased for both business and savings members this quarter.

* We’re utilizing our small formats to develop the market eco-system that is a critical part of our long term growth strategy.

* Global e-commerce continues to deliver impressive sales results, including sales from Yihaodian acquired last year, third quarter sales grew nearly 40%.

* Over the past two years, the cost per square foot for new construction of both super centers and small formats in the United States has come down by over 15%

 

Jeff Davis

* Q3 market share gains:  increase of 18 basis points in the measured category of food, consumables and health and wellness according to the Nielsen Company.

* We continued to see strength in produce, home, apparel and wireless.

* The quarter started slower than we would have liked. The comp sales picked up in September and October.

* The Halloween comp sales were higher than last year mostly driven by strength in candy and costumes.

* Grocery: low single digit negative comp at 0.7%.

* Produce and adult beverages: delivered a mid-single digit and high single digit positive comp respectively.

* Carbonated soft drinks: gained over 240 basis points of unit share according to the Nielsen Company.

* Health & Wellness, Prescription, Apparel & Home: low single digit positive comp.

* Stationary and crafts: low single digit positive comp with over 50 basis points of market share gain in stationary.

* Sporting goods: mid-single digit positive comp.

* TV’s: gained 80 basis points of market share for the three months according to the NPD Group.

* Opened 54 supercenters (including new stores, expenses, relocations and conversions).

* Opened 32 neighborhood markets and an additional express store.

* Walmart added 7.1 million net new square feet

* Q4 – plan to open about 50 stores, including new stores expansions, relocations and conversions. These will be comprised of both large and small formats and represent approximately 3.7 million incremental square feet.

* Have more than doubled our online assortment over the last year going from 2 million SKUs to more than 5 million

*  Brand callouts:  Avia, Russell, Farberware, Rachel Ray & Calphalon

 

Doug McMillon (Int’l)

* Canada – net sales grew 3.8%.  Comparable sales decreased 1.3%, with ticket up 0.2% and traffic down 1.5%.

* Canada – we now operate 380 stores across all Canadian provinces with 227 supercenters and 153 discount stores.

* Mexico – sales increased 1.7% over the last year and comparable store sales decreased 2.8% negatively impacted by the country’s economic slowdown. Ticket was up 0.4% and traffic was down 3.2%.

* China – Comparable sales were negative 0.9%. Comp ticket grew 7.1% in China while traffic declined 8%.

* Japan – Net sales increased 1.2% and we delivered positive comp sales. The first comp increased since the second quarter of fiscal year 2013.  Average ticket was up 2% and traffic was down 1.9%.

Read the Earnings Call Transcript

 

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“Walmart Canada stung as retail competition heats up” by Hollie Shaw at Financial Post.  “The unit of the world’s biggest retailer reported a third-quarter decline in customer traffic Wednesday and a drop in same-store sales, an important industry barometer of retail strength.  Like grocery rival Loblaw, Walmart is feeling an impact from the pricing war even as it helps to spur it.” Read more

 

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“Nordstrom profit slides, but retailer unfazed” at The Seattle Times.  “Revenue rose 3 percent to $2.88 billion from $2.81 billion last year. Revenue in stores open at least one year, a key retail metric, rose 0.1 percent.”  Read more

 

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