Question

Using the company Walmart (2017 or 2018) annual report (or Form 10-K) from the company's Investor Relations web page and other credible internet sources, develop a short (1.5 to 2 page) profile of the corporation. Obtain and attach a PDF version of the most recent annual report (or Form 10-K) from the company's web site. Include the following information:

Name of the corporation and location of corporate headquarters.

State of incorporation.

The stock exchange on which the company's stock is traded.

Nature of its operations.

The fiscal year end date of the annual report you used.

Total assets on the balance sheet.

Total revenues on the recent income statement.

Net income on the income statement.

The basic earnings per share reported on the recent income statement.

The depreciation method used by the corporation.

The inventory method used by the corporation. If the company does not report inventory on its balance sheet, state that in your report.

Description of classes of stock (e.g. common, preferred, Class A, etc.) and the number of shares authorized, issued and outstanding for each class, from the balance sheet or notes.

Market price of the stock on 10/12/2018 (Use Yahoo finance or other stock quote site).

High and low prices of stock for the past 12 months (also known as 52-week range) (Use Yahoo finance or other stock quote site).

Dividends paid for each of share of stock during the year covered by the annual report from the income statement or notes.

The name of the Registered Public Accounting Firm who audited the company's financial statements.

Discuss something that you found interesting in the annual report, that you didn't know before.

If you had $10,000 to invest, would you invest in the stock of the corporation you chose. Provide your opinion and support your opinion with evidence from your research.

Answer 1

Walmart Inc. (formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets, discount department stores, and grocery stores.^[8] Headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas, the company was founded by Sam Waltonin 1962 and incorporated on October 31, 1969. It also owns and operates Sam's Club retail warehouses.^] As of October 31, 2018, Walmart has 11,277 stores and clubs in 27 countries, operating under 55 different names.^[1][2][11] The company operates under the name Walmart in the United States and Canada, as Walmart de México y Centroamérica in Mexico and Central America, as Asda in the United Kingdom, as the Seiyu Group in Japan, and as Best Price in India. It has wholly owned operations in Argentina, Chile, Canada, and South Africa. Since August 2018, Walmart only holds a minority stake in Walmart Brasil, with 20% of the company's shares, and private equity firm Advent International holding 80% ownership of the company.

Walmart is the world's largest company by revenue—over US$500 billion, according to Fortune Global 500 list in 2018—as well as the largest private employer in the world with 2.3 million employees. It is a publicly traded family-owned business, as the company is controlled by the Walton family. Sam Walton's heirs own over 50 percent of Walmart through their holding company, Walton Enterprises, and through their individual holdings. Walmart was the largest U.S. grocery retailer in 2016, and 62.3 percent of Walmart's US$478.614 billion sales came from U.S. operations.

The company was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1972. By 1988, Walmart was the most profitable retailer in the U.S.,^[14]and by October 1989, it had become the largest in terms of revenue. Originally geographically limited to the South and lower Midwest, by the early 1990s, the company had stores from coast to coast: Sam's Club opened in New Jersey in November 1989 and the first California outlet opened in Lancaster in July 1990. A Walmart in York, Pennsylvania opened in October 1990: the first main store in the Northeast.^[16]

Walmart's investments outside North America have seen mixed results: its operations in the United Kingdom, South America, and China are highly successful, whereas its ventures in Germany and South Korea failed.

When you think of a grocery store, chances are you think of places like Safeway, Albertson’s, or perhaps Super One. However, Walmart also holds a significant amount of the grocery market. In fact, they provided approximately 14.5% of all of the food purchased in America in 2016. This figure is more than twice that of their nearest competitor (Kroger, who had about 7.2% of the sales). The firm even owns their own in-house brand, Great Value, that is one of the highest-rated store brands in the entire nation. Walmart still holds the top position as far as selling groceries to Americans goes. However, they may soon be displaced by same-day grocery delivery due to the recent Amazon-Whole Foods deal. This means that they should focus on building up the infrastructure to compete with Amazon – who has already taken a lot of their business from both their online and brick-and-mortar stores.

Primary website sources: Walmart.com, Wikipedia & Yahoo Finance

Summary of information (Source: Annual report of 2018)
Name of the corporation and location of corporate headquarters.	Walmart Inc., 702 S.W. 8th Street Bentonville, Arkansas
State of incorporation.	Delaware
The stock exchange on which the company's stock is traded.	NYSE: The New York Stock Exchange
Nature of its operations.	The Company is engaged in the operation of retail, wholesale and other units, as well as eCommerce websites, located throughout the U.S., Africa, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Central America, Chile, China, India, Japan, Mexico and the United Kingdom. The Company's operations are conducted in three reportable segments: Walmart U.S., Walmart International and Sam's Club. The Company defines its segments as those operations whose results the chief operating decision maker ("CODM") regularly reviews to analyze performance and allocate resources. The Company sells similar individual products and services in each of its segments. It is impractical to segregate and identify revenues for each of these individual products and services.
The fiscal year end date of the annual report you used.	January 31, 2018
Total assets on the balance sheet.	204,522
Total revenues on the recent income statement.	500,343
Net income on the income statement.	9,862
The basic earnings per share reported on the recent income statement.	3.29
The depreciation method used by the corporation.	Straight line method
The inventory method used by the corporation. If the company does not report inventory on its balance sheet, state that in your report.	Walmart US segment - Retail inventory method (lower of cost or market value) at LIFO Walmart International - Retail inventory method (lower of cost or market value) at FIFO Sam's Club - Weighted average cost LIFO method
Description of classes of stock (e.g. common, preferred, Class A, etc.) and the number of shares authorized, issued and outstanding for each class, from the balance sheet or notes.	Common Stock par value $0.10 per share, The registrant had 2,950,696,818 shares of common stock izsued and outstanding as of March 28, 2018.
Market price of the stock on 10/12/2018 (Use Yahoo finance or other stock quote site).	94.81
High and low prices of stock for the past 12 months (also known as 52-week range) (Use Yahoo finance or other stock quote site).	52 Week Range 81.78 - 109.98
Dividends paid for each of share of stock during the year covered by the annual report from the income statement or notes.	April 3, 2017 $ 0.51 June 5, 2017 0.51 September 5, 2017 0.51 January 2, 2018 0.51
The name of the Registered Public Accounting Firm who audited the company's financial statements.	Ernst & Young LLP
Discuss something that you found interesting in the annual report, that you didn't know before.	I didn't knew that they serve 270 million customers a week. They use different methods for inventory (LIFO, FIFO as well as Weighted average)
If you had $10,000 to invest, would you invest in the stock of the corporation you chose. Provide your opinion and support your opinion with evidence from your research.	Yes, Walmart is the world's largest retailer and also the world's largest company by sales. That size gives it a considerable advantage in the form of economies of scale, as none of its peers can match its buying power. Since Walmart is the biggest customer for many of its suppliers, when it talks, they listen -- and the company has looked to its suppliers for savings in recent years as it aims to meet the challenges of the e-commerce era. For income investors, Walmart is also a Dividend Aristocrat, having raised its dividend every year for 45 years in a row. It now offers a yield of 2.5%.