Walmart analysis profit margin analysis and comparison between walmart and competitors

ACC101 Group Assignment Walmart Analysis Bao cao tai chinh (ACC101) 0 FPT University WALMART ANALYSIS Lecturer: Le Minh Viet Course: ACC101- Principles of Accounting Võ Thị Thảo Nhi - SS170658 Hồ Thái Uyên - SS170424 Bùi Lê Minh Thư - SS170067 Phạm Minh Thư - SS170398 0 Table of Contents Company's activities 2 Profit Margin Analysis and Comparison between Walmart and competitors Return on Assets Analysis and Comparison between Walmart and competitor Financial Leverage Analysis and Comparison between Walmart and competitors Analyze its Return on Equity within the last years and compare it with other competitors Prediction about future performance & advice to potential investors: Do not invest 12 Profit Margin 12 Return on Assets 12 Return on Equity 12 Inflation 13 0 1.Company's activities a General According to its Annual Report, Walmart Inc helps people all over the globe save money and live better lives - anytime and everywhere - by providing them to shop in both retail stores and online, as well as access to its other service offerings It seeks to consistently develop a customer-centric experience by seamlessly integrating its eCommerce and retail shops in an omni-channel solution that saves time for its consumers via innovation Every week, it serves about 230 million consumers who visit more than 10,500 shops and many eCommerce websites in 24 countries under 46 banners Its headquarters are located in Bentonville, Arkansas The New York Stock Exchange markets its common stock under the ticker "WMT" (WALMART INC., 2021) Its objective is to make busy families' lives simpler, operate with discipline, refine its culture, become more digital, and make trust a competitive advantage Making life simpler for busy families involves the company's dedication to price leadership, which has been and will continue to be a cornerstone of its business, as well as enhancing convenience to save customers' time It gains its consumers' confidence every day by providing a diverse range of high-quality goods and services at daily cheap rates ("EDLP") EDLP is its pricing philosophy, according to which it offers things at a low price every day so that buyers can trust that its prices will not change despite frequent promotional activities Everyday low cost ("EDLC") is its commitment to keeping expenditures under control so that cost savings may be passed on to consumers (WALMART INC., 2021) Walmart U.S., Walmart International, and Sam's Club are its three reportable segments Its fiscal year for its activities in the United States ("U.S.") and Canada ends on January 31 It consolidates all other activities on a calendar year basis with a one-month lag Its discussion is for the fiscal years ending January 31, 2022 ("fiscal 2022"), January 31, 2021 ("fiscal 2021"), and January 31, 2020 ("fiscal 2020") ("fiscal 2020") It produced total revenues of $572.8 billion in fiscal 2022, mostly from net sales of $567.8 billion (WALMART INC., 2021) b Development of the business The brief summary of the development of the business: ● ● ● ● ● ● In 1945, Sam M Walton opened a franchise Ben Franklin variety store in Newport, Arkansas; In 1946, his brother, James L Walton, opened a similar store in Versailles, Missouri; Until 1962, its founders' business was devoted entirely to the operation of variety stores; In 1983, Walmart opened its first Sam's Club, and in 1988, it opened its first supercenter; In 1998, the first Walmart Neighborhood Market was opened; In 1991, Walmart's first foreign endeavour started when it entered into a joint venture in Mexico; 0 ● ● ● ● ● c In 2000, it began its first eCommerce initiative by creating both walmart.com and samsclub.com, the eCommerce presence of Walmart has continued to grow; In 2007, leveraging the physical stores, walmart.com launched its Site to Store service, enabling customers to make a purchase online and pick up merchandise in stores; Over time, it has over 8,000 pickup sites and over 6,000 delivery locations throughout the world; January 31, 2022, Walmart International has operations in 23 countries; In recent years, it has heavily invested in omni-channel and eCommerce innovation, as well as made several eCommerce acquisitions to better serve its customers (WALMART INC., 2021)21) The segments of Walmart It conducts international retail, wholesale, and other operations, as well as eCommerce, in the United States, Africa, Canada, Central America, Chile, China, India, and Mexico It also operated in Argentina before the sale of Walmart Argentina in fiscal 2021, and in the United Kingdom and Japan before the sale of those businesses in the first quarter of fiscal 2022 Walmart U.S., Walmart International, and Sam's Club are its three reportable segments Each section contributes differently to the Company's operational performance In recent years, each segment has maintained a stable contribution rate to the Company's net sales and operating income, except for modest swings in the Walmart International segment's contribution rate owing to foreign exchange rate movements (WALMART INC., 2021) d Products and Services The majority of Walmart's income comes from retail sales, which include items distributed under its own brand or other national and international brands Additionally, a minor portion of Walmart's earnings comes from services These are the services: ○ ○ ○ ○ Financial: money orders and wire transfers, check cashing, payment of bills, and prepaid cards; VUDU Movie Streaming: A subscription-based on-demand streaming service for viewing movies and television programmes; Clinical: Some preventative and regular health examinations that not need urgent or emergency treatment; Health insurance (WALMART INC., 2021) Walmart’s competitors in the industry of retail sales include Costco, Amazon, Target, Rakuten and Sears Holdings Corporation (Walmart Competitors, n.d.) In the analysis below, we will analyse and make comparisons between Walmart and its two competitors: Costco and Target 0 Profit Margin Analysis and Comparison between Walmart and competitors a Walmart’s profit margin analysis Figure 2.1 Walmart’s Profit Margin in the period of 2017-2021 The data in Figure 2.1 is collected from Walmart's annual reports in the years 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021 Profit margin is one of the regularly used profitability measures for determining the extent to which a firm or business activity generates revenue It indicates the proportion of sales that have resulted in profits Simply put, the percentage reflects the amount of profit made per dollar of sales (Segal, 2021) During the period from 2017 to 2021, Walmart's profit margin declined by 0.39 percent and saw several adjustments From 2017 to 2019, Walmart's profit margin decreased by 1.51 percent, from 2.81 percent to 1.30 percent This dramatic decline in profit margin might be caused by the effect of a continuing trade war with China and tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on the company's operations (Thomas, 2018) Particularly, because of the trade war with China and tariffs making the goods more expensive, expenses were rising more quickly than revenues throughout this time When Walmart realised in 2020 that customer traffic was shifting from online and pickup channels to in-store purchasing, it used its store base and technical investments, which enabled it to sell and fulfil fluidly across channels (Unglesbee, 2021) Being able to utilise its infrastructure, the expense of Walmart in this year increased slightly With a 2.84 percent profit margin in 2020, the company's finances are on the rise In 2021, the profit margin declined by 0.42 percentage The expense of Walmart increased more rapidly than the revenue There are several causes for this reduction in profit margin such as declining margins and ongoing inflationary pressures (Souza, 2021) 0 b Comparisons between Walmart and its competitors: Target and Costco Figure 2.2 Profit Margin of Walmart, Costco, and Target in the period 2017-2021 The data in Figure 2.2 is collected from annual reports of Walmart, Costco, and Target in the years 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021 It can be interpreted that Target had the largest profit margin and the greatest rise from 4.01 percent in 2017 to 6.55 percent in 2021, despite a slight reduction of 0.11 percent in 2018 Following in second place is Costco, whose Profit Margin had steadily improved over the last five years from 2.08 percent in 2017 to 2.56 percent in 2021 Walmart had the lowest profit margin of the three during the last years Its profit margin declined from 2.81 percent in 2017 to 2.42 percent in 2021 In 2018 and 2019, its profit margin decreased by a total of 1.51 percent, and its growth is not as consistent as the other two Overall, Target maintained the highest profit margin during the last five years while Walmart has had the lowest profit margin, indicating that the retail store industry in the United States is increasingly competitive Return on Assets Analysis and Comparison between Walmart and competitor a) Return on Assets Analysis The dollars in earnings or Net Income generated by a corporation per dollar of assets are represented as return on assets ROA is commonly used to assess a company's and its management's efficiency in allocating capital to create income for shareholders In general, a greater return on assets indicates that management is making good use of the asset base 0 • • • • For the fiscal years ending in January 2017 through 2021, Walmart's return on assets averaged 5.264 % Walmart's return on assets peaked in January 2017 at 6.86% when looking back over the previous five years Walmart's return on assets decreased to 3.04 percent in January 2019, which was a five-year low Walmart's return on assets declined in 2018 (4.82 %), 2019 (3.04 %), 2021 (5.35 %), but climbed in 2020 (6.29 %) From 2017 to 2019, the decreases in ROA were principally caused by our fall in operating income over these time periods ROA was 6.29 percent in fiscal 2020 and 3.04 percent in fiscal 2019 The sudden decrease in ROA is due to an increase in Assets, while income stays the same means that the company has purchased more assets The rise in ROA was largely attributable to an increase in consolidated net income, principally owing to a change in the fair value of the investment in JD.com, and somewhat offset by the $4.5 billion net loss recorded in fiscal 2019 relating to the sale of the majority share in Walmart Brazil (WALMART INC., 2020) A declining ROA suggests that the corporation may have overinvested in assets that have failed to generate revenue growth, indicating that the company is in peril The advantages of Walmart's business strategy should help to restrain inflation No, the business is not immune to rising costs or economic downturns Although the company's management has a number of development-oriented initiatives, the retailer's immense scale is a tremendous barrier to significant revenue growth In addition, the demographics of the typical Walmart customer may make them more vulnerable to the effects of inflation than some customers of its competitors (Macroaxis, 2022) In his update, CEO Doug McMillon enumerated the factors that contributed to the company's disappointing quarterly report "Bottom line results were unexpected and reflect the unusual environment U.S inflation levels, particularly in food and fuel, created more pressure on margin mix and operating costs than expected.” (Walston, 2022) 0 b) Comparison It can be interpreted that Target had the largest return on assets and the greatest rise - from 7.50 percent in 2017 to 13.20 percent in 2021, despite a slight reduction of 0.3 percent in 2018 but climbed up 7.80 percent in 2019 Following in second place is Costco, whose return on assets had steadily improved over the last five years from 7.80 percent in 2017 to 8.80 percent in 2021, but a reduction of 0.6 percent in 2020 Walmart had the lowest ROA of the three during the last years Its ROA declined from 6.86 percent in 2017 to 5.35 percent in 2021 In 2019, its ROA decreased even to 3.04 percent, and its growth is not as consistent as the other two Overall, Target maintained the highest ROA during the last five years while Walmart has had the lowest ROA, indicating that Walmart had lower the ROA, the worse it is because the company is making less money on more investment Financial Leverage Analysis and Comparison between Walmart and competitors a) Financial Leverage Analysis Financial leverage occurs when a corporation uses borrowed cash as a funding source while investing to increase its asset base and create returns on risk capital Leverage is an investing technique that involves utilizing borrowed money to boost the possible return on an investment 0 • • • • • Walmart's financial leverage ratio decreased from 2020 to 2021, slight decrease of 1% Walmart's financial leverage peaked in 2020 at 289% when looking back over the previous five years Walmart's financial leverage decreased to 288 percent in 2021 Walmart's financial leverage steadily and strongly increasing over the years Walmart Debt Current is currently very constant as compared to the previous year In 2021, Walmart reported a debt current of 5.4 billion Long-Term Debt to Equity is expected to increase to 0.58 in 2022, while Issuance Repayment of Debt Securities is expected to decrease (3.7 B) in 2022 Walmart bought more assets, resulting in a sudden increase in financial leverage This is most likely owing to a growth in cash and short-term investments, which are the only sources of revenue for Walmart, which may be doubtful A higher figure is generally preferred since it indicates that a firm is utilising its assets efficiently to produce money, and Walmart has a high asset turnover ratio Walmart may want to reconsider its inventory management strategy and invest in finding a means to expand sales quicker than inventories Over the last five years, both sales revenue and total assets have both risen Walmart may also choose to explore reinvesting excess cash in fixed assets in order to increase its total asset turnover ratio This could potentially provide a higher return for its shareholders (Walmart's Financial Leverage, 2022) b) Comparison: 0 Target has the biggest financial leverage and the greatest growth - from 341 percent in 2017 to 354 percent in 2021, with a peak of 365 percent in 2019 Costco comes in second; while its financial leverage is bigger than Walmart, it is decreasing year by year, with the largest decline in 2019 being just 291 percent, while it was as high as 341 percent in 2017 During the previous five years, Walmart has the lowest financial leverage of the three, yet there has been an increase It increased its financial leverage from 246 percent in 2017 to 288 percent in 2021 In general, Target has had the greatest Financial leverage during the last five years, while Walmart has had the lowest, yet there is an increase The times interest earned ratio is a far more accurate estimate of each company's financial leverage Because a large portion of these three companies' debt comes from accounts receivable, they not pay much interest, resulting in higher ratios Costco has extremely little debt on which to pay interest, resulting in high profit margin This provides shareholders hope that Costco will be able to meet its interest expenditure in the coming years (Financial Leverage Analysis of Walmart, Costco and Target, 2018) Analyze its Return on Equity within the last years and compare it with other competitors a Return on equity of Walmart 0 Figure 5.1 Walmart’s Return on Equity in the period of 2017-2021 Data in figure 5.1 are taken from Walmart's annual reports in year 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 The Return On Equity ratio ultimately calculates the rate of profit that holders of a company's common stock make on their investments The company's ability to generate returns on the investments it has received from its shareholders is measured by its return on equity (The Economic Times, n.d.) Percentage of Walmart’s return on equity in during the peroid from 2017 to 2021 sightly went down about 0.84 percent and see drastic changes year by year From 2017 to 2019, Walmart’s return on equity plunged by 8.34 percent, from 17.54 percent to 9.2 percent This rapid dip in return on equity might be caused by Trade War between US and China Following a Section 201 inquiry of solar panels and washing machines, the US International Trade Commission ruled that imports of these products had harmed domestic producers in February 2018, and President Trump slapped safeguard duties Shortly thereafter, the Commerce Department placed further tariffs on steel and aluminum based on Section 232 investigations The subsequent stages of the trade war were mostly fought between the United States and China In anticipation of the Phase One deal, the US and China delayed a sixth tariff wave in December 2019 (Fajgelbaum & Khandelwal, 2021) When the agreement was finalized in January 2020, both parties agreed to cut tariffs from the September 2019 wave in half, however the tariffs stay in effect until September 2021 As a result, Walmart's return rate jumped significantly by nearly 11 percent and 2020 is more than times more than in 2019 during 2019 and 2020 Furthermore, the Covid 19 outbreak, which burst out at the end of December 2019 in Wuhan, China, has left the entire globe perplexed The United States was no exception, with a huge epidemics towards the end of 2020 and beginning of 2021 The covid-19 crisis 10 0 became real on March 11, 2021 It was the day of a high-profile diagnosis, significant event postponements, and an official designation: pandemic Schools were closed, streets were deserted, and commuters stayed at home (Thebault, Meko and Alcantara, 2021) At a time when the US government was shuttering the entire country, restricting travel and in-person transactions, Walmart launched a "Click and Collect" campaign to increase sales (Kaplan, 2021), but the problem was that the "largest factory in the world" - China was closed, packages couldn't be completed on time, delivery costs were high, and factories without workers were forced to close temporarily All of these things disrupt supply networks, driving up the price of essential goods But amidst the wave of unemployment due to the complicated development of the epidemic, people have to live on government subsidies, the purchasing power is reduced and leading to a decrease in the rate of return from 19.93% in 2020 to 16.69% in 2021 b Comparison between Walmart and its competitors: Target, Costco Figure 5.2 Return on Equity of Walmart, Costco and Target in the period of 2017-2021 Data in figure 5.1 are taken from annual reports of Walmart in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021; annual reports of Target in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021; annual reports of Costco in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 Target has the greatest profitability ratio, growing dramatically from 3-4 percent every year, barely increasing by 0.5 percent from 2018 to 2019 Costco was next, with a solid return on investment of more than 2% in 2018 However, there is a high propensity for the 2018-2020 cycle to decline by roughly 3% while increasing by 2.05 percent in 2021 The firm with the lowest rate of return is Walmart, which declined drastically from 2017 to 2019 by more than 8%, climbed quickly in 2020 almost doubled, then reduced by approximately 3% 11 0 in 2021 In general, Target has the greatest rate of return, while Walmart has the lowest, demonstrating that American industries and enterprises have been and will continue to compete aggressively Prediction about future performance & advice to potential investors: Do not invest Being one of the world’s largest public corporation, however, Wal-Mart faces a lot of risks Some risks are industry-related while others are similar to other firms The information below show the factor and prediction that explain potential investors not invest on Walmart: Profit Margin The Profit Margin at Walmart significantly changed from 2017 and 2021 Due to the impact of the US-China trade war and tariffs placed on the business by the Trump administration, Walmart's profit margin decreased by 1.51 percent (Thomas, 2018) In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic had an impact on that, resulting in a decline of 2.84 percent, which was brought on by a change in customer traffic from online and pickup channels to in-store shopping (Unglesbee, 2021) Due to the covid-19 pandemic epidemic and persistent inflationary pressures, the profit margin decreased in 2021, falling to about 2.42 percent Walmart has consistently had the lowest profit margin when compared to Target and Costco, a sign that American retail is becoming more and more competitive According to the company's CFO, Brett Biggs, substantial expenditures will be necessary to maintain competitiveness In this scenario, Walmart may see slimmer profit margins or possibly a loss since it cannot sustain long-term competition with its rivals Another significant concern to Walmart Inc is economic uncertainty, which might have an impact on its overall profitability (Repko, 2021) Return on Assets The statistics show that Walmart has performed worse than Costco and Target in turning its investments into profits Making intelligent resource allocation decisions is one of management's most critical tasks, and it seems Walmart management, in the given time, was less skilled than its two counterparts A low ROA is another evidence that Walmart may have overinvested in assets that haven't increased income, which might be a problem for the business Conclusion: Because the ROA demonstrates how ineffectively a firm uses its assets to produce profits, it will be challenging to locate stock opportunities in the future (CSIMarket, n.d.) Return on Equity ROE of Walmart 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 17,54% 12,66% 9,2% 19,93% 16,69% 12 0 ROE of consumer industry 24,52% 22,87% 13,42% 12% 16,99% A significant fluctuation was seen in Walmart’s Return on Equity between 2017 and 2021 Over a period of years, the Return on Equity of Walmart decline by 8.34%, which was caused by Trade War In 2020, both parties agreed to cut tariffs wave in half As a consequence, Walmart's return rate climbed dramatically by approximately 11 percent However, the Covid 19 crisis, the purchasing power is reduced and leading to a decrease in the rate of return from 19.93% in 2020 to 16.69% in 2021 (CSIMarket, n.d.) Walmart's ROE was often lower than the industry average ROE for the consumer goods sector when comparing the change in ROE's growth rate from year to year In other words, Walmart made little money for every dollar of shareholder equity This demonstrates how poorly the corporation is using the funds contributed by shareholders The management of a firm is less effective at producing income and growth from its equity funding the lower the ROE (CSIMarket, n.d.) Inflation Figure 6.1 The annual inflation rate in the US (TRADING ECONOMICS, 2022) One of the main worries for the future of the food industry is inflation, and even once the Trade War is over, WalMart won't be able to fully absorb inflation charges The US annual inflation rate increased from 8.6 percent in May to 9.1 percent in June 2022, above market expectations of 8.8 percent and reaching its highest level since November 1981 The cost of gasoline was also to blame; by June 2008, it had risen to an all-time trading high of $5.032 a gallon This increased the cost of manufacturing and packaging consumer items as well as the transportation of food and other goods However, when gas prices rise, consumers tend to combine trips, which is good news for stores like Walmart (United States Inflation Rate - July 2022 Data - 1914-2021 Historical - August Forecast, n.d.) 13 0 Figure 6.2 - U.S All Grades All Formulations Retail Gasoline Prices (Dollars per Gallon) (U.S Energy Information Administration, 2022) References: Comparably n.d Walmart Competitors [online] Available at: [Accessed 19 July 2022] Costco Wholesale Corporation, 2017 2017 Annual Report Annual Report Issaquah: Costco Wholesale Corporation Costco Wholesale Corporation, 2018 2018 Annual Report Annual Report Issaquah: Costco Wholesale Corporation Costco Wholesale Corporation, 2019 2019 Annual Report Annual Report Issaquah: Costco Wholesale Corporation Costco Wholesale Corporation, 2020 2020 Annual Report Annual Report Issaquah: Costco Wholesale Corporation Costco Wholesale Corporation, 2021 2021 Annual Report Annual Report Issaquah: Costco Wholesale Corporation CSIMarket, n.d Consumer Non Cyclical Sector Management Effectiveness Information and Trends by quarter, ROE, Return On Assets, Return On Investment from Q 2022 to Q 2021 - CSIMarket [online] Csimarket.com Available at: 14 0 [Accessed 31 July 2022] Fajgelbaum, P and Khandelwal, A., 2021 The Economic Impacts of the Us-China Trade War SSRN Electronic Journal, Kaplan, M., 2021 Ecommerce Briefs: Amazon Sellers, Walmart.com Grocery, Clickand-collect [online] Practical Ecommerce Available at: [Accessed 30 July 2022] Macroaxis, 2022 Walmart Bonds [online] Macroaxis Available at: [Accessed 30 July 2022] Macroaxis, 2022 Walmart Return On Asset [online] Macroaxis Available at: [Accessed August 2022] Repko, M., 2021 Why an emboldened Walmart is looking to beyond retail for future growth [online] https://www.cnbc.com/ Available at: [Accessed 31 July 2022] Segal, T., 2021 Profit Margin Definition [online] Investopedia Available at: [Accessed 30 July 2022] Souza, K., 2021 Walmart quarterly net income down almost 40%; retailer raises fullyear guidance - Talk Business & Politics [online] Talk Business & Politics Available at: [Accessed 29 July 2022] Studymode n.d Financial Leverage Analysis of Walmart, Costco and Target [online] Available at: [Accessed August 2022] TARGET CORPORATION, 2017 2017 Annual Report Annual Report Minneapolis: TARGET CORPORATION TARGET CORPORATION, 2018 2018 Annual Report Annual Report Minneapolis: TARGET CORPORATION TARGET CORPORATION, 2019 2019 Annual Report Annual Report Minneapolis: TARGET CORPORATION 15 0 TARGET CORPORATION, 2020 2020 Annual Report Annual Report Minneapolis: TARGET CORPORATION TARGET CORPORATION, 2021 2021 Annual Report Annual Report Minneapolis: TARGET CORPORATION The Economic Times, n.d What is Return On Equity? Definition of Return On Equity, Return On Equity Meaning - The Economic Times [online] The Economic Times Available at: [Accessed 31 July 2022] Thebault, R., Meko, T and Alcantara, J., 2021 Sorrow and stamina, defiance and despair It’s been a year [online] The Washington Post Available at: [Accessed 30 July 2022] Thomas, L., 2018 Walmart cuts earnings outlook for 2019 [online] CNBC Available at: [Accessed 29 July 2022] TRADING ECONOMICS, 2022 The annual inflation rate in the US [image] Available at: [Accessed 31 July 2022] Tradingeconomics.com n.d United States Inflation Rate - July 2022 Data - 1914-2021 Historical - August Forecast [online] Available at: [Accessed 30 July 2022] U.S Energy Information Administration, 2022 U.S All Grades All Formulations Retail Gasoline Prices (Dollars per Gallon) [image] Available at: [Accessed August 2022] Unglesbee, B., 2022 Walmart's sales keep growing even as online momentum slows [online] Retail Dive Available at: [Accessed 31 July 2022] WALMART INC., 2017 2017 Annual Report Annual Report Bentonville: WALMART INC WALMART INC., 2018 2018 Annual Report Annual Report Bentonville: WALMART INC WALMART INC., 2019 2019 Annual Report Annual Report Bentonville: WALMART INC WALMART INC., 2020 2020 Annual Report Annual Report Bentonville: WALMART INC 16 0 ... 2 Profit Margin Analysis and Comparison between Walmart and competitors Return on Assets Analysis and Comparison between Walmart and competitor Financial Leverage Analysis and Comparison. .. competitors: Costco and Target 0 Profit Margin Analysis and Comparison between Walmart and competitors a Walmart? ??s profit margin analysis Figure 2.1 Walmart? ??s Profit Margin in the period of 2017-2021 The... Rakuten and Sears Holdings Corporation (Walmart Competitors, n.d.) In the analysis below, we will analyse and make comparisons between Walmart and its two competitors: Costco and Target 0 Profit Margin