In the two weeks before trading, I watched several stocks on Yahoo Finance, gaining information from colleagues, and researching the Internet for possible options. I started by typing in random tickers into Yahoo’s search bar. Then, I would look at the fifty-two week range. If the current price was closer to the lowest price in the past year, I would look at the five year chart to see how each stock fared. Once I saw there was a decent profit margin, I made note of the stock to purchase on MarketWatch Virtual Stock Exchange when it opened on January 28th. In addition, some of my fellow classmates advised me on stocks, in which, they received a great return from. Since I learned never to trust web sites and people when it came to the stock market, I know I should double check by looking at charts, financial statements, and past history before making a decision on whether or not to purchase a corporation’s stock. Moreover, search engines such as Google aided in the search for stocks. I looked up the best stocks to buy, and what stocks are increasing in price. Although this tactic was not very helpful, I did gain some valuable information from penny stocks. Even though the minimum stock price on MarketWatch is two dollars, I found a couple that were over the entry amount. Overall, I believe I was well prepared to enter this investment game with complete confidence.
When the time came around to purchase stocks for a portfolio, one of the first stocks I chose was Sears Holding Corporation (SHLD). For the past two years, I worked for Kmart, a company part of Sears since 2005. Like any retail outlet, stocks prices rise during November and Christmas due to the shopping holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas. Because my store had an ...
... middle of paper ...
...ding Corporation has been trying several tactics to target more customers. They have been having promotional door buster deals and free layaway, but that is not enough. As another outlet, they have been advertising commercials such as “Big Gas Savings” and “Ship my Pants”, which have been a hit. They recently signed a contract with Why Not Lease It to allow customers to purchase large ticket items by making small payments biased on their wage and salary, not on credit. The company has been trying to make customer’s shopping experience enjoyable, but I think they should reduce their prices if they want to become the world’s best integrative retailer. Therefore, investors will be able to get a small return off the stocks in the long run. On the other hand, investors will be able to get a larger return if they buy at the end of spring and sell shortly after Christmas.
...s are doing well and over the many years have gone up. The company has not lawsuits currently pending which is good. The company as a whole seems to be growing even when the market is down.
My conclusion is that the protagonist should buy more stock of Costco Wholesale Corporation as she concluded the company is growing at manageable rate without relying on debt or equity. They are with high sales or profit, low labor costs, and consistent growth. Costco seems to be a low risk stock that is performing well with long term stability for more
Analyzing Wal-Mart's annual report provides a positive outlook on Wal-Mart's financial health. Given the specific ratios and its comparison to other companies in the same industry, Wal-Mart is leading and more than likely continue its dominance. Though Wal-Mart did not lead in all numbers, its leadership and strong presence of the market cements the ongoing success. The review of the current ratio, quick ratio, inventory turnover ratio, debt ratio, net profit margin ratio, ROI, ROE, and P/E ratio all indicate an upbeat future for the company. The current ratio, which is defined as current assets divided by current liabilities, is a measure of how much liabilities a company has compared to its assets. Wal-Mart in the year of 2007 had a current ratio of .90, and as of January 2008 it had a current ratio of .81. The quick ratio, which is defined as current assets minus inventory divided by current liabilities, is a measure of a company's ability pay short term obligations. Wal-Mart in the year of 2007 had a quick ratio of .25, and as of January 2008 it had a ratio of .21. Both the current ratio and quick ratio are a measure of liquidity. Wal-Mart is not as liquid as its competitors such as Costco or Family Dollar Stores Inc. I believe the reason why Wal-Mart is not too liquid is because they are heavily investing their profits for expansion and growth. Management claims in their financial report that holding their liquid reserves in other currencies have helped Wal-Mart hedge against inflationary pressures of the US dollar. The next ratio to look at is the inventory ratio which is defined as the cost of sales divided by average inventory. In the year of 2007, Wal-Mart’s inventory ratio was 7.68, and as of January 2008 it was 7.96. Wal-Mart has a lot of sales therefore it doesn’t have too much a problem of holding too much inventory. Its competitors have similar ratios though they don’t have as much sales as Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart’s ability to sell at lower prices for same quality, gives them the edge against its competition. As of the year 2007, Wal-Mart had a debt ratio of .58, and as of January 2008, it had a debt ratio of .59. The debt ratio is calculated by dividing the total debt by its total assets. Wal-Mart has a lot more assets than it does debt so Wal-Mart is not overleveraged.
Definition of Main Problem: There can be no argument that Wal*Mart has revolutionized the discount retailing industry. Furthermore, CEO Glass and COO Soderquist have stepped in at the helm of this company and continued to take it in the right direction by quadrupling sales and profits from 1987 to 1993. The main problem they now face is how to sustain their phenomenal performance, and becoming number one has magnified this issue. No longer can they just sneak into small towns where the only competition is the local merchant’s shop. No longer can they copy larger companies like Sears and J.C. Penny’s because of their size and scope. The fact is, Wal*Mart is bigger than these companies and their direct competitors Kmart and Target are doing everything in their power to close that gap. They are lurking not so quietly in the shadows, benefiting from Wal*Mart’s past choices, successes, and failures. They are there to blow the whistle if Wal*Mart steps outside the lines. Wal*Mart may be growing, but at a rate under 10% for the first time in years. Shareholders are concerned, the press is relentless, and many obstacles lie in their path if they hope to continue the trends Sam Walton set so ambitiously in 1962.
Our decision is to invest in Wal-Mart. The choice for Wal-Mart is on the basis that their functional-level strategy is really robust, nevertheless of the fact that they do not treat their employees well. The fact remains that they are financially stronger, have a better business-level strategy, and have a corporate-level strategy than Costco. Costco v. Wal-Mart: What must we learn about them? Let start with Costco. Costco is Wholesale, Retail Corporation which operates an international chain of membership distribution centers that provides quality, brand name merchandise at noticeably more affordable rates than a conventional wholesale or retail sources. Costco 's warehouses display the largest and great product categories such as groceries, candy, appliances, television and media, automotive supplies, tires, toys, hardware, sporting goods, jewelry, watches, cameras, books, house wares, apparel, health and beauty aids, tobacco, furniture, office supplies and office
Walmart stakeholders like every brick and mortar retailer were concerned with the Amazon apocalypse as more and more retail stores were closing from Target to Macy’s to Sears and thousands of employees lost their jobs. That fear led a lot of traders to hold Walmart stock on short interest as they though that Walmart is going down too as Amazon was a major concern on many stakeholders’ minds from suppliers to customers to investors to banks. However, Walmart adapted to the new game and excelled.
The purpose of this report is to research and examine Toys "R" Us, the world's largiest toy chain store, so as to provide the company with strategic recommendations for future success. To throughly understand the company, the analysis is divided into multiple focus points: industry analysis, firm strategy analysis and firm financial analysis. The analysis concludes with rating that we give the company's stock as well as our strategic recommendations for the company to increase it's overall preformance.
Sam Walton was the creator of Walmart; therefore, he must to have had success in his company to make it a very popular, widespread, multi-billion dollar company during our lifespan. The Walmart legacy has spread to 11,088 locations since its foundation in 1962. Sam Walton began to build upon his founding of Walmart by opening many other stores in the local areas around Roger, Arkansas. This would play a key role in how his business skyrocketed into success. Walton’s family has led Walmart into even greater success ever since his passing. The origins, popularity, and health of the Walmart stock are very important aspects to look at when looking at whether to look at investing into Walmart or not.
On January 22, 2002, Kmart filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection becoming the largest retailer ever to do so in U.S. history. Most industry analysts attributed the immediate cause of the company's bankruptcy filing to a dull holiday season and stiff competition from WalMart and Target as the chain's more fundamental problem. But competition wasn't the root cause of Kmart's consistently poor performance. The real reason for Kmart's poor performance is that Kmart never had a marketing strategy. Kmart completely misunderstood its market and was positioning itself in the wrong direction. Also, on the strategic side, there are issues of where stores were located. On the whole, Kmart stores did not seem to be sited as well as the stores of the competition. Then there was the issue of technology. While Wal-Mart was becoming the relentless efficiency engine that we know today by investing in technology and streamlining the supply chain, Kmart held back. As Wal-Mart developed an infrastructure that enabled it to lower prices, Kmart slipped into a price disadvantage. This paper discusses these strategic problems that led to Kmart's poor performance.
Some complimented Kmart’s acquisition of Sears. Those most positive look to opportunities to cut unnecessary administrative expenses, increase buying power and cross-sell well known merchandise between Kmart and Sears. There are those who are very concerned about the acquisition. They are afraid that Wal-Mart, being their biggest competitor, will still be so much bigger than the combined Kmart and Sears. The name of the merged company will be changed it won’t be called sears. The acquisition of Sears cost to Kmart organiza...
In order to make the most logical and beneficial purchases, it was first important that I fully understood the terminology used within the stock market. Words such as blue chip stock, mutual fund, stock splits, and ticker symbol would all prove incredibly important for me to understand if I was to do well within the game. For example, the first stock I bought, Disney, taught me the definition of a ticker symbol - in Disney’s case, DIS. This enabled me to quickly identify other stocks by their ticker symbols as well, and I soon became familiar with the term. In addition, when I bought Coca-Cola, I soon learned its financial importance as a reliable blue-chip stock, as it and other stocks like it proved profitable for me. My class was also required to buy a mutual fund, and in doing so I learned how exactly a mutual fund differs from a stock, the positives and negatives of buying one, et cetera. In addition, my knowledge of the history that places like the NYSE contains proved incredibly important towards my success within the game. Because I learned about the NYSE’s foundation and the many people who worked to make it what it is today, I was able to fully appreciate the importance of the stock market as I moved through the simulation. This, in turn, helped me take the Stock Market Game seriously and not waste any of my money on stocks that I considered
What do you understand by the phrase “stakeholder analysis”? Attempt a stakeholder analysis of an organisation that you are closely associated with.
stock has dropped and is still dropping. The reason for this is the people do
I became an enthusiast of finance ever since I was at high school. At the political economy class, my teacher asked us: if you have a million RMB, how would you use it? She then introduced us the concept of investment, and I was intrigued specifically by the stock. For the latter two years of my high school, I have been reading books and articles regarding the stock market in the U.S. and in China. As one of the outstanding students ranked top 1% in College Entrance Exam in Hainan Province, China, I was accepted by the City University of Hong Kong with a full scholarship. With the strong interest in finance, I chose quantitative finance and risk management as my major.
The intensely competitive, action-oriented, profit-hungry world of investment banking can seem like a bigger-than-life place where deals are done and fortunes are made. Investment bank includes but is not limited to bringing an established company to the market, by that I mean taking company with the capabilities but not capital of expanding, and raising money through other investors or the stock market (IPO) for a commission, I chose this field because of my personal experience with my father and his company, I’ve seen him go from starting off as a cold calling broker, to running a brokerage firm, to starting a brokerage firm, all the way to having his own investment firm. I feel like I would do better with jobs where you set your own hours and work at your own pace. A lot of the work is commission based so the more your work the more you make, this would also benefit me because it would drive me to work more, money is my motivation. To be hired you will need good people and communication skills, highly analytical skills, high ability to synthesize and high creative ability. You will also need experience in modeling, valuing companies, and financial accounting.