Wal-Mart profit misses forecast; outlook weak

cnn.netscape ^ | May 12, 2005 | Reuters

[TXBSAFH]

Wal-Mart profit misses forecast; outlook weak

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. on Thursday reported a weaker-than-expected profit and said second-quarter results would miss Wall Street forecasts as steep energy prices and cool, wet weather cut spring sales.

Shares of Wal-Mart, which said gasoline prices would continue to curb consumer spending in the current quarter, fell 4 percent in premarket trading. The world's biggest retailer said it expects trends to improve in the second half and remained optimistic about the U.S. economy.

"Our results were not up to Wal-Mart standards," Chief Executive Officer Lee Scott said on a recorded message, citing steep oil prices and unusually cool, wet weather in parts of the United States.

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[wideawake]

Can you beleive this guy?

It seems obvious now that he just doesn't understand the difference between a pegged and a floating currency - he thinks they're the same thing.

Unbelievable.

It certainly explains a lot.

[TheForceOfOne]

Profit is 0.03472 percent of all sales? is that right?

[Penner]

I don't think China is handling the wealthing of its society terribly safely though. I'm guessing here but given the lack of devolved power in China, there might really be a rising under a second Mao, and a confiscatory grab/bloody revolution by the impoverished internal provinces of China. Much more likely is the continuation of the current de facto separation between the coastal provinces and landlocked China, policed by the Red Army - and then a formal separation into Nu-China and Poor-China in a decade or so. IMO

I wonder where "Nu-China" is going to get the army to enforce this formal separation.

[general_re]

Profit is 0.03472 percent of all sales?

Check your math - divide, then multiply by 100. $10 billion is 3.47% of $288 billion.

[Squawk 8888]

China is a communist country. It cannot have a middle class.

Which is why they will not remain communist. Nothing undermines authoritarianism more effectively than the first taste of prosperity.

[wideawake]

I'd rather have one really beautiful ______ (name your item) than have 3 pieces of junk...

That's fine for living room furniture or fine china.

What if you want placemats, or slipcovers, or kids' sheets or unbreakable glasses for barbecues or bleach wipes for cleaning?

Who wants one really beautiful, finely constrcuted disposable bleach wipe?

Or painstakingly crafted, ultrafine, pewter goblets for pouring beers in for a backyard barbecue?

People who buy high-end, heirloom level products at Wal-Mart like furniture or good china only do it because they would otherwise have to do without these items.

Wal-Mart helps these people live with a little more comfort and dignity than they otherwise would.

[TheForceOfOne]

I thought it was low. duh! lol

[reagan_fanatic]

Thanks for telling me how Tv-educated you are by saying unions are violent thugs.

My God, you are either extremely dense or grossly misinformed, aren't you? My Father worked for a non-union electrical company for almost 20 years, and I can spend HOURS regaling you with stories on how the unions HARASSED and THREATENED my Dad's company constantly, on how they INTIMIDATED and PRESSURED any potential customer who dared request a quote from a non-union entity.

Oh, and before you start foaming at the mouth about how my Dad's company underpaid their workers, hired unskilled electricians and gave their employees little or no benefits - they were paid just as well as their union counterparts, had great health benefits and only hired trained electricians. That company is a success today in spite of the constant drumbeat of harassment they endure from your 'peaceful' union brothers.

Your idiotic union cheerleading will get you nowhere.

[1rudeboy]

Non-union electricians working on projects at the University of Michigan literally feared for their lives. They were lucky if someone simply rolled their van.

[agere_contra]

Good point. At the moment the sharp economic step function is handled by the large Chinese Police force and civil service empowered by the robust Chinese attitude to human rights. Economic migrants filter through to the coastal areas as long as they get the right paperwork or know the right people. But I don't know how the pressure compares say with the same process from Mexico to El Norte.

But for the future: I guess in the case of an actual bust up the coastal provinces would adopt a Tawainese-style military with big budget hardware, and try to fortify some geographical barriers (rivers, hills etc). Damn I need to look at a map.

[general_re]

;^)

[Toddsterpatriot]

The "golden age" these loonies are defending existed almost entirely in the Northeast and Upper Midwest from 1948-1973.

And it had nothing to do with the fact that every factory in Europe and Japan had been destroyed. LOL!!

New protectionist bumper sticker:Bring back US manufacturing, bomb somebody.

[Toddsterpatriot]

Our 'manufacturers' now make Whoppers and Big Macs.

Liar.

[Toddsterpatriot]

Thanks for embarrassing yourself so totally and admitting to the thread that you know absolutely nothing about economics.

Just another day. Shooting protectionist fish in a barrel.

[agere_contra]

And it had nothing to do with the fact that every factory in Europe and Japan had been destroyed.

Actually, I think that's his point. High wage manufacturing was only profitable, and only worked, because every other factory district on the planet was rubble.

Unfortunately some folks got into the way of thinking that that was the way it would always be.

[BeHoldAPaleHorse]

"More folks buying American made goods..."

Wal-Mart carries the same stuff as everyone else.

[Toddsterpatriot]

Actually, I think that's his point. High wage manufacturing was only profitable, and only worked, because every other factory district on the planet was rubble.

I know that's his point and agree with him.

[agere_contra]

Sorry Toddster, I'm didn't pick that up :0)

[Mase]

China is a communist country. It cannot have a middle class

Should a communist country have Free Enterprise Zones? Are their citizens buying their own apartments? Did they decentralize their agricultural industry? Are individuals allowed to own their own businesses and profit from them?

Oh, and btw, China has a rapidly expanding middle class.

[agere_contra]

This is regarding your "foreign owned enterprises" in China.

I read the translation Ironfang. Thanks for posting it. The point here, I think, is that although China heavily regulates FO companies, its still competitive compared with other parts of Asia for certain goods. India is better for motorbikes, for instance, but China can't currently be beat for low-end goods.

In a decade or two Chinese wages will have risen. Then the Chinese had better have dropped these regs, or somewhere else will get the work. Big layoffs in the Pearl Delta. Disgruntled workers complaining about outsourcing to India, etc