CNN:Wary Wal-Mart blames gas prices for soft 2nd-qtr,worries about outlook

[DeepModem Mom]

A wary Wal-Mart
No. 1 retailer blames higher gas prices for soft second-quarter sales, worries about outlook.
August 16, 2005
By Parija Bhatnagar, CNN/Money staff writer




NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - While Wal-Mart Stores blamed higher gas prices for cutting into its sales in the second quarter, CEO Lee Scott said Tuesday he's concerned that the worst may be yet to come.

"I do feel good about the economy, but I worry about the effect of higher oil prices," Scott said during the pre-recorded call that was monitored by telephone in New York. "Wal-Mart will continue to face a challenge as the year progresses."

Tom Schoewe, Wal-Mart's chief financial officer, chimed in during the call, adding that Wal-Mart was hit with a double-whammy because of the escalating price of fuel.

On one hand, higher gas prices will continue to cut into the pocketbooks of Wal-Mart's predominantly low-to-mid-income customers. "That will impact our operating income," Schoewe said.

At the same time, Schoewe said more expensive fuel was costing Wal-Mart more on the back end of the business, primarily to use its vast trucking fleet to move freight around the country to its stores....


http://money.cnn.com/2005/08/16/news/fortune500/walmart/index.htm?cnn=yes

[liberal N proud]

1. Wal-Mart can't be the only one feeling the pain.

I know that personally, I am.
I would think that Disney World and all tourist attractions would be in trouble.

I heard a trucker talking about shutting the country down by not delivering anything all because of fuel prices.

[DeepModem Mom]

2. Seems this economic "recovery" is limited to those at the top --

not Wal-Mart shoppers.

[Roland99]

6. It's a Corporate recovery. Profits up, wages flat.

You tell me who's making the money.

[Mist]

9. This came up on my ISP page (Netscape) this morning-

An AP item that WalMart dividends increased .07 cents per share. Sweetening the stock?

[punpirate]

14. Given that five family members hold...

... 40% of the stock and (until the oldest son killed himself in the ultralight accident) two family members sat on the board, they might be adding a little cushion for themselves--a little extra spending money to carry them through the coming hard times.

[SpiralHawk]

7. The "elite" Republicans are getting obscenely rich

while the working stiff Republicans who have been conned into believing BushCo, are getting screwed.

BushCo Voo Doo Economics - that's what it's called.

[phantom power]

20. High fuel prices hit everybody, no exceptions.

Every single product or service you can buy depends on fuel, usually at multiple points. The cost of filling up your gastank is really the least of it.

We're headed into another bout of stag-flation. And this time, the price of fuel is never coming back down. It's not a drill.

[jus_the_facts]

3. pffft....

:nopity:

[bushisanidiot]

4. Higher gas prices and the fact that u.s. shoppers are on to the China-Mart

ways of doing business..

u.s. shoppers are sick of their jobs getting outsourced to other countries as well as the insourcing of slave-labor which eliminates good paying jobs here in the u.s.

China-Mart is destroying our country and it looks like the u.s. shopper is finally realizing it.

[cascadiance]

22. Yup! The boycott of China-Mart is still not getting attention from MSM...

http://www.cafepress.com/chinamart

[displacedtexan]

5. Hm. On the local news (Baltimore) last night...

The TV news team bought the same school supplies at 4 different stores.

Target was cheapest.
Staples was second.
Wal-Mart was 3rd.
Office Depot was 4th.

[Tesla]

8. But the good news is that Halliburton had a 284% profit ....

this last quarter.....

[tanyev]

10. Oh, boo-frickin-hoo, Wal-Mart.

Your cheap crap is going to cost more to ship here than to make it. That's what you get for making everything in overseas sweat shops.

[TahitiNut]

11. But they're still GROWING! That's appalling, as people are jobless.

They're a cancer on the nation.

[Javaman]

12. "Attention wal-mart shoppers, clean up in isle America, that is all"

Given that china-mart has such an enormous product base, I find it faninating that they were able to hold on this long.

Rule of thumb in retail, the larger your inventory, the quicker the fail during economic hard times. Now that inflation has jumped because of gas prices (yeah right), they should be singing the blues for the forseeable future.

Serves them right. It's payback time for those fuckers. They bleed the little guy suppliers dry, the destroy mainstreet America and now they are crying a river over their bloated inventory.

hey china-mart, eat shit and enjoy it, because it's going to be like that for a long time to come. Bwahahahahaha!! fuckers.

colossal failure*

[cliss]

27. Yes, this is true.

Just think, Walled Mart has a HUGE amount of real estate, and inventory, and labor costs, and all kinds of other costs.

I'll just sit back and watch the fun, over the next few months as they start to sweat bullets.

Now, gas prices are not the only thing that's hurting Fall Mart. China recently revalued the Yuan. After huge pressure from Washington to do so, they finally reluctantly did so.

This means: Chinese imports are going to be more expensive. Crap Mart has to pay much more for the junk. They have to pass this on to the customers, who are already staying home because of higher gas prices.

Aren't most Wall Un-smart's located outside the cities? (I've never been to one). So people have to drive further......= this is going to really hurt them.

[Javaman]

30. Love your various renames of wal-mart. :)

[NNN0LHI]

13. I was in a tavern yesterday for lunch right at noon and I was the only...

...person in the joint. A few years ago it would have been hard to find a place to sit at that time of day. The waitress said the same thing. Times are hard.

Don

[SammyWinstonJack]

15. Times are hard and bush** is getting on with his life.

:grr:

[lakeguy]

16. i long for the day this kills walmart...bringing jobs and business back

to the local scale!

[BlueStatesForever]

17. The up-side of gas prices!

So because of the gas prices, apparently Walmart can't keep their prices low enough that people will sacrifice their principles and buy from them.

Personally, all I can say is I KNEW there was an upside to high gas prices!

[boredofeducation]

18. How many $20 DVD players can people buy?

How many $20 DVD players can people buy? I mean it seems like everything they sell, we already have.

[natrat]

19. good morning all and fuck you wall mart

[expatriot]

21. 2-4% annual growth is still too much annual growth for these bastards. nt

[sepia_steel]

23. don't let the bankruptcy hit your ass on the way out

treat your consumers like idiots, and eventually they'll find out.

fuck wal-mart.

[gasperc]

24. too late now, the shock is here

people around the country are absorbing the shock as best they can, cutting back on whatever they can

Let's see if the price point has hit the point where demand will drop off, and equalize the price. For now, it looks like the "market" is searching for the point where people will stop buying gas. meanwhile the economy will grind to a halt. large job losses attributible to the spike in fuel costs will in turn curb demand, send supply up and drop prices. yeah, the boom bust cycle that a 3year could have predicted and now we have to live through

[Neshanic]

25. Quick! To the China Red Phone! More, more, cheaper, cheaper!

"You guy are commies....can't you make them work more hours for free? We need still lower prices to offset fuel to keep our profits, and your palms greased!"

[sintax]

26. The Plastic Fascist Empire of McAmeriWalMartika is done

It's now just to watch the grotesque props of a fading not so interesting colonial power slip into the cracks of history.


Seeing things and remaining quiet about them will change nothing, not even ourselves. But saying things - having the courage to testify to our own forbidden knowledge - could be the way the world changes.

[cascadiance]

28. Probably also worried that Costco will steal even more of their customers!

Since they also sell cheap gas too!

[VegasWolf]

29. Last week they blamed Target! nt

[nookiemonster]

31. Schadenfreud, anyone?

:evilgrin:

[DemoTex]

32. Freighter fuel will be Walmart's Waterloo.

As the cost of running their freighter "pipeline" from China's sweat shops to our shores goes up, Walmart will lose any price advantage. Adios, MoFos!